


of nights & then.

by seonhoneyy



Category: jinjae - Fandom, kang hanna, kim seonho - Fandom, seonhohada, start up - Fandom
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Love-hate - Freeform, One Night Stand, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:21:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29179401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seonhoneyy/pseuds/seonhoneyy
Summary: “That’s right. It’s not like I have feelings for anyone.”She cocked a brow in cheeky suspicion, “Really?”“Really.” He stood his ground and sent a stern stare towards her.“Suit yourself then.” She shrugged and smiled as she turned to walk away, leaving the almighty Han Jipyeong terribly flustered in her wake.That woman was driving him mad.[ a jinjae AU wherein a certain incident meant to be forgotten ends up getting in the way of professionalism. ]
Relationships: Han Ji Pyeong/Won In Jae, Han Jipyeong/Seo Injae, Kim Seon Ho/Kang Han Na, Kim Seonho/Kang Hanna, han ji pyeong/seo in jae, han jipyeong x seo injae, kim seonho x kang hanna
Comments: 11
Kudos: 119





	1. Prologue.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A glimpse into the night that started it all.

A woman looked out her car window in deep thought, clutching the steering wheel of her Mercedes Benz with one hand while she rested her temple on the other one.

She was stuck in traffic, on her way home from work.

Or more accurately, she was on her way back to a house that’s lost its meaning a long time ago, but it took her a damn while to realize that...

The longer she was bound in the stand-still, the more time she unwillingly had for the events of her long and draining day to roll back into her mind which in turn, continuously put her in a cycle of jaw-clenching and seething.

Her urge to just smack her step-brother’s face and curse at her step-father only got stronger and stronger with each passing moment of scornful recollection.

She knew by then that she couldn’t possibly stomach stepping into that house again— _at_ _least_ _not_ _yet_.

She needed to calm down and think of a way to get out of this mess that only she could help herself with.

As the stop light turned green, she only had two choices: drive straight and hope that she goes unnoticed when she climbs up to her bedroom, or turn left and spend the night at the five-star hotel just around the corner of the high-end district she was in.

The woman put her car in drive and without a second's hesitation, she made a sharp turn, heading towards the grandiosely lit skyscraper and into its dim basement parking.

She parked her car, checked-in, and before calling it a night, she made a last-minute decision to stop by the lounge to unwind and brood to lick her wounds...

11:32 PM; that was what her analogue Patek Philippe time-piece read just as she sat down on a stool at the bar.

”Good evening, ma’am.” The bartender approached her with a polite smile, “Would you like a glass of wine?”

She internally scoffed. She needed something stronger— _much_ stronger.

”I’ll have your strongest cognac.” She replied, “Charge it under room thirteen forty-one.”

The bartender gave her a nod and asked no questions as to why she seemed so eager to intoxicate herself as he prepared her beverage, punching in the order on the tablet on the side. The woman rested her arms on the counter and seconds later, she was handed her drink.

The potent smell of alcohol filled all her senses as she brought the glass to her lips and took a big gulp, having the brandy leave a trail of fire down her throat.

She knew she shouldn’t be gallantly drinking in the mood she was in right then, but who the hell cared anyway... because she, for one, did not.

Drowning her problems away with alcohol wasn’t like her at all—but desperate times called for desperate measures, she consoled herself with that thought.

She was filled with nothing but pure anger and contempt, not being able to think rationally at the moment. Even she knew that what she was doing was rash and irresponsible but there was just something inside of her that snapped that day, something that finally brought her to her senses and made her realize that: the universe owed her this one chance to tell herself that she deserved to rebel against her values at least just this once.

She was usually very good at hiding and handling these disarrayed emotions under a professional guise but this time was just... _different_. She was fed up with everything and saw no point in collecting herself to save what was left of her dignity.

As she took her second swig at the cognac, a man then sat down next to her and placed his order immediately with a tone that seemed to match her bitter mood.

”Whisky on the rocks, please...” His announced in a low and gruff tone and proceeded to give his room number, “Fourteen thirty-one.”

His voice was unexpectedly so alluring that the woman couldn't help but take a quick and furtive scan of him.

He was dressed in a smart casual ensemble with a pair of sleek sneakers to complete his laid back but expensive-looking number. The Breitling on his wrist only added to his radiating affluence with additional points going to his sharp side-profile and slicked-back hair.

 _But of course,_ after that 'brief' observation, the woman once again focused back on finishing the beverage in her hand, and in a span of a few seconds, she emptied her glass and then asked for another... and another.

_And another._

Her repeated requests for refills as if the _very strong_ alcohol was some kind of plain old iced tea caught the attention of the man sitting beside her as he scoffed and retorted, _“Which circle of hell did you find yourself in today?”_

She side-eyed him, wondering why this stranger was suddenly striking up a conversation with her... She came to this place to be alone for a self-pity party but the universe had a funny way of throwing rather handsome distractions in her path.

”Sorry, was I too forward?” He half-heartedly apologized, his voice toning back with the snarkiness.

“No, it’s alright...” She casually swirled the glass around with her hand, “I’m just trying to forget this day even happened in the first place, as you can probably tell.”

“Ah, I see... Cheers to that then.” He raised his glass at her for a bitter toast, downing the drink immediately afterwards.

She turned her head towards him to shoot him a curious stare an equally curious question, “Came here to mope around too?”

”I wouldn’t be here at this hour if my day went so well, now would I?” He let out another scoff, “Hence, my attempt at trying to wash away today’s events too.”

She gave a slight nod in agreement, “What was the unfortunate occassion?”

”Work.” He tiredly sighed, recalling how his company was ~~forcing~~ making him do some charity gig while he had much more important things to focus his energy on, “You?”

”Family drama.” She cracked a sour and sarcastic smile, unpleasantly reminded of the smug faces of her step-father and step-brother earlier that day, “Also, work.”

The man gave her an understanding look as they both paused to just wallow in the frustrations that brought them together at the hotel bar in the first place... that, and they were able to suddenly think of ways to appease those said frustrations.

”So I’m guessing you came here to mainly erase today with alcohol, or...?” He furrowed his brows with an insinuating smirk forming on his lips.

She quietly laughed, catching on to his drift as she traced the lipstick-stained rim of her glass with her finger, “I’m not so sure anymore, actually.”

His eyes quickly travelled up and down her figure and ended up just staring at the woman’s gorgeous face, “I’m glad we’re on the same page then.”

Maybe it was the sultry ambience in the lounge, the faint and relaxing jazz playing in the background, the alcohol taking over their system, or the oddly familiar anonymity between them that made them feel an ironically tensioned ease in each other’s presences.

They went on to make small talk consisting of empty flirtations and subtle innuendos as the number of glasses of alcohol they consumed went unnoticeably high in number. With every minute that passed, with every hungry stare shared, the more and more subdued their inhibitions were thanks to the expensive liquor they were both chugging down so brashly like water.

Soon enough, they were at that stage of the night wherein they were neither sober or flat-out drunk. They were in that grey area wherein the decisions they were to make were decisions done out of recklessness and out of pure human instinct and desire.

It was no doubt they were insanely attractive people who seemed to have established a stable enough connection to last the next twelve hours or so.

It was all they needed anyway; that timed connection.

They both needed something to take their minds off their awful days and the opportunity to do so was _right_ in front of them.

She needed a distraction and he needed to ease off.

Not that they know this about each other, but being in the same industry wherein people using people to their own benefit was no heinous crime made them click in more ways than one. So it was no surprise that the first thing these two had in mind was the thought on how to make the most out of this encounter—spoken like the true businesslike-minded people they were.

They both had something they can offer to the other and they shared a similar end-goal: a night’s escape.

They were complete strangers who were in dire need of an obstruction.

Something quick. _Pleasurable_. No strings attached. It was just for one night. A spur of the moment kind of thing...

A clandestine personal transaction.

What were the odds they’d meet again someday anyway, right?

With the alcohol really settling in to give them the liquid courage they needed and with the clock striking midnight, they decided to end their little bar conversation with a four-worded question that only began their _long_ night ahead.

_“Your room or mine?”_


	2. What goes around...

SH Venture Capital’s senior manager walked into his office as his subordinates stood to greet him good morning to which he responded with nonchalant and acknowledging nods accompanied by the signature cold, poker-face he always wore to work.

He sat down at his desk and began to review the business plans that were piled up on his desk and in his email but just as he was about to do some evaluation and research, someone called out to him from the front door of his office.

”Mr. Han.” A grey-haired woman waltzed in with a smile, “May I have a word with you in the conference room, please?”

He courteously obliged and met with his boss but couldn’t help but sense an ominous feeling in the pits of his stomach as he walked into the conference room and taking his seat across the lady.

”Good morning, Ms. Yoon.” He exchanged the proper formalities, “What is it that you want to talk about?”

”How’s your first week back in Korea?” She started the conversation with a casual opener.

”It took me some time to adjust to the timezone again but other than that... It’s been fine.” He left out the part of being continually stressed about being urged to take that infamous ‘charity gig’ ever since he landed back on home soil, “It feels like I never left.”

”That’s good to hear.” She said with an expectant grin, “Well, I’ll cut to the chase now. The real reason I stopped by was to know if you’ve considered the offer I raised to you the other week.”

He shifted with unease in his seat as he was brought back to the day he came back from the States after much insistence to return to Korea by a few higher ups. Being begged to do so gave him hopes that a promotion was in order but as it turned out, he was asked to leave his high position in the US Headquarters to go back to Korea just so they could throw some charity gig at him—a charity gig in a sense that it could be closely associated with asking an acclaimed university professor to teach clueless and rowdy kids the alphabet.

He was already so tired from his 14-hour flight from New York to Incheon and having his bubble burst only added to his long list of frustrations.

He simply just thought it was a waste of his time and expertise in the field he’s been in for over more than a decade.

His absolute disappointment ultimately led him to bitterly drink his dissatisfaction away, but recalling that brash choice of his made him remember the rather gratifyingly sensual end of that day... the face of the gorgeous woman with the fierce and enticing aura flashed in his mind once again.

The _only_ highlight of that long and eventful day.

”Ms. Yoon, with all due respect, I don’t think I’m the right man for it.” He tried to decline it again for the nth time, “May I recommend Mr. Park instead? He would seem like he would do a better job than me.”

”Maybe in lifting up their spirits; yes... but in giving actual advice and stating the unbiased truth? Not so much.” She replied, “Mr. Han, I’m aware of how you aim to keep your track record clean and in top shape. I understand your hesitation... but being a Sandbox mentor isn’t as bad as it seems.”

He sighed, tapping his fingers against the table. If only it was just an investment of money that was involved, but no. It was an investment of time as well in which time was something he also highly valued. He had other things to do; companies to look into, deals to make, talent to scout... Why waste his time being some kind of mentor to a mere start-up that he’s not even sure will succeed?

Getting into Sandbox is one thing but maintaining their residency is a whole other story. A whole other novel, if you ask him.

”I just don’t think I’ll have the patience, Ms. Yoon.” He said with adamance and transparency. “I don’t mean to sound rude or anything but I just feel like I would rather deal with companies that know what they’re doing instead of me telling them what to do.”

”Mr. Han, give it more thought and come back to me about this on Monday. There’s a reason why we think you’d make a great mentor.” The woman persisted just as she slid a white envelope across the table, “There will be a networking party tonight held by Morning Group. There may be a few potential Sandbox applicants there so try and mingle with them and see what they’re capable of. If you don’t find anything that could change your mind, then I won’t stop you from declining the mentor position anymore and I might just actually let you go back to the States and resume your work there.”

The senior manager gave her a dubious look as he cleared his throat and took the envelope in his hands, opening it to reveal the dainty invitation concealed from within.

”I just have to go to this party, right?” He asked.

”Yes.”

”Alright, I understand. I’ll be there, Ms. Yoon.”

**────────────────**

The young and bright woman stared at herself in the mirror, observing with great attention to detail how she looked like in her red dress and also checking for any loose strands of hair or smudged make-up before heading out of the restroom to greet the guests of the last party she would be hosting as Nature Morning’s CEO.

It was, to put simply, war for her out there.

She was well aware of how she was fighting for a lost cause but she at least knew she had to leave good impressions on all the people who were in attendance so she’d at least win the public’s favor and sympathy when the decision to strip her of her CEO title was finalized. 

She just had to hold out for the night and worry about what comes after later.

She made her rounds, greeting people, exchanging formalities, and putting her polyglot abilities to use as she came across numerous foreigners. She maintained her coolness, her smile, and her radiance all throughout the night which helped her charm every single person she met.

However, the moment she spotted the two all too familiar men enter the party with an entourage of body guards behind them, her smile fought to stay on her lips.

” _Great... Just fucking great_.” She hissed to herself.

They saw her from across the room and approached her with their signature smug smiles that were enough to send volumes of anger pound through her.

”Good evening, Injae.” Her step-brother greeted her, “I see you still haven’t conceded.”

”I intend to finish my race even if I know defeat is inevitable.” She replied with the most fake smile ever as she subtly flaunted her glamorous get-up, “I also might as well go out in style.”

”You could always go back to man the US branch, my dear.” Her step-father said, eager to keep her talent on his side.

”And continue being under your suffocating leash? No, thank you.”

”Injae, what do you plan to do from now on then?” Sangsu snorted, “Live like your mom?”

She tensed up and bawled up her fist at the mention of her mother and the way he dared try to negatively connotate her. Even their father gave the younger Won a glance of caution.

”I’ll have you know that the way I choose to live has never been and never will be any of your concern.” Injae bit back venomously, “Mind your own business. I’ll get by on my own just fine.”

“Is it that time of the month already?” Her step-brother cracked an amused smile, ”Injae, let’s not be too moody—“

”Moody?” She scoffed in disbelief, “Defending myself against your misogynistic remarks is being moody? If I call you out on how you’ve been nothing but a conniving little leech all these years, would you appreciate it if I call you moody too?”

”You two, stop now.” The chairman put his foot down before his children could really start fighting, “We’re in public.”

Injae glared daggers at her step-brother and took a deep breath before calming down, “If you’ll excuse me...”

She walked past by them, purposely bumping her shoulder against Sangsu as she went over to the deserted cocktail bar to collect herself, vividly picturing in her head her breaking in her step-brother’s roach-like face.

Her fury was boiling up inside of her. She was a ticking time-bomb ready to explode. When she couldn’t hold in her outburst any longer, she let out a frustrated groan as she stomped her foot down in anger... but in the split second of her heel meeting the floor, she felt something oddly soft rather than the hard, cement floor.

Simultaneously, that was when she heard a pained, supressed groan from her behind.

It registered immediately in her head that she just stepped on someone as a horrified look replaced the sourness on her face. She spun around to see a man in a white suit, bending down to wallow in pain.

”Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you!” She apologized profusely.

“You _really_ had to wear stilettos tonight, huh...” He grumbled between his groans, still looking down and struggling with the throbbing pain in his left foot.

”I’m so sorry...” She nervously bit her lip, not knowing what exactly to do.

The man let out a heavy sigh, trying his utter best to contain his vexation. When he finally stood straight and looked at his “attacker”, he was about to coldly tell her off as he was not in the best mood by then... but that was when he just froze.

As she did too.

Jaws agape, eyes wide, brains lagging. They were both trying to verify in their heads if the person in front of them really was who they thought they were... Digging into their drunk memories was like passing through a jungle of jumbled up vines.

”You...” Injae didn’t know what to say, “How...?”

By the stupefied looks they were giving each other, there was no doubt about who they recognized each other as.

“It’s nice to see you again.” He chuckled dryly, convinced that the universe really was trying to punish him by being cruel enough to put him in this unbelievably discomfiting situation.

”So, it _is_ you...” She confirmed his identity and the more uneasy she became.

The man pursed his lips into a small smile, digging his hands into his pants’ pockets, “Well, this just got pretty awkward.”

She wasn’t in the right mood to deal with any of this right now—no matter how painfully and effortlessly dashing he looked in that suit.

“And what are you doing here?” She asked, her tone not amused.

”I believe I should be asking you the same thing, don’t you think?” He scoffed, “You were gone the next morning and I thought I would never see you again.”

”As you should’ve.” She crossed her arms on her chest, “Don’t you understand the concept of one night stands?”

”You could’ve at least told me your name.”

She cocked a brow and subtly rolled her eyes, “Well, you didn’t give me yours.”

”Touche.” 

”Look here, pretty boy.” She clicked her tongue, running out of patience, “Can you _please_ do me a favor and just pretend this is our first time meeting?”

”Why do you seem so eager to forget that night already... Was I _not_ good?” He faked offense and cockily retorted.

 _Oh, you were. Believe me._ Injae begrudgingly admitted in her head.

”I don’t think this is the best time to discuss _that_ right now.” She gritted her teeth, afraid that people might overhear them.

Before he could snarkily respond, someone butt in and put a hand on both their backs as a greeting.

”I see you two have already met.” Chairman Won smiled.

”No, we haven’t.”

”Yes, we have.”

They chorused with contradicting responses.

“What?” The step-father furrowed his brows in confusion.

Jipyeong looked at Injae and noticed how her knuckles started turning white at bawling them so hard at her side... all because of the sudden sight of the old man.

“Chairman Won.” He averted the topic and held out his hand, “It’s been a long time.”

”Yes, it has, Mr. Han.” He shook Jipyeong’s hand, “How did you meet my daughter?”

... _daughter?_

“ _Step_ -daughter.” Injae was quick to correct him.

The venture capitalist blinked twice at the sudden discovery.

”Oh, uh...” He quickly glanced at her and decided to play along, “Just now, actually.”

”Well, Injae, I suppose you know this is Mr. Han Jipyeong, Senior Manager of SH Venture Capital. Mr. Han, this is my step-daughter, Won Injae, CEO of Nature Morning.” The chairman properly introduced them to each other for the first time.

And the plot thickens, indeed.

Injae thought it was rather brazen for him to introduce her as the CEO of Nature Morning when he himself was going to end up taking that title away from her in a few days time... Meanwhile, Jipyeong didn’t know what to make out of this new situation he was in.

Amidst the flurry of questions and emotions bubbling up inside of them, all they could do at the moment was give each other acknowledging nods as if it were actually their first time to meet.

”Mr. Han, when did you come back from the States, by the way? Will you be staying here for good?” The chairman directed a question at the taller male.

”I just arrived last week, sir. As for the duration of my stay... I’m not so sure yet.” He replied calmly.

Injae was looking away from the conversation, dreading to have to participate in it and Jipyeong noticed this.

“Oh, really?” Chairman Won said, “Coincidentally, Injae was supposed to leave for the States last week but... her flight was cancelled.” He told a white lie at the end which made the woman in question tense up more than ever before.

”Father... I think Sangsu is looking for you.” Injae finally spoke up to shoo the chairman away.

She knew all too well that he followed her and interrupted her conversation just to irk her all over again. Knowing that he succeeded, Chairman Won took a step back and made his excuse to leave.

”Well, I’ll leave you two for now. It seemed like you were having an interesting conversation.”

As the old man left, Injae felt like she could finally breath. She clenched her jaw and held the back of her neck in exhaustion. Jipyeong sensed the tension growing inside of her and figured that she needed to calm down. He was quick on his toes to grab a glass of champagne from the passing waiters and offered it to the woman in front of him.

”You look like you could use a drink.” 

But Injae, being the stubborn person she was, refused the drink even though she knew what he just said was true.

”Alright, suit yourself.” He shrugged and drank it instead, “So... CEO Won Injae. That’s your name, huh?”

”You’re really getting on my nerves now, you know that?” She scrunched up her face and tiredly glared at him.

”I’m just trying to divert your attention. You seemed pretty tense just a second ago.”

She sighed and shut her eyes... What was she even doing anymore? Her fighting spirit just suddenly dried out as she was left to mourn the loss of the fruition of her hard work over the past four years. She’s realized that the more people called her CEO now, the more unworthy she felt of that moniker—even as she knew the dedication and drive she’s had ‘til this very moment would beg to differ... She really didn’t know why she was being like this.

She looked up and scanned the room just for her eyes to fall on her step-brother conversing with people already, probably making connections fast thanks to the pointers he got from his dad. Seeing Sangsu making rounds at the party as if he were the star of the show helped her swallow the pill that it was probably because he was. She was getting replaced by that bumbling idiot who knew nothing about leading a company. 

She was a dead star that was just radiating the last bits of her light. People will eventually just lose sight of her altogether as she completely burns out, forgetting they ever saw her for the super nova she once was. For there was a new, bigger, and brighter star that took her place in the vast and dark sky. 

She always tried to make it known that she built an empire with her own hands and not with her step-father being her safety net. She thought she’d be rewarded but as it turned out, she ended up losing everything.

Who knew she was just there to warm-up Sangsu’s seat.

Sangsu. Won Sangsu. That little rat-faced son of a bitch. He acted like some loyal minion/secretary to Injae just to bite her in the ass in the end.

Beginning to be consumed in her thoughts, Injae blankly stared into an invisible void to which Jipyeong stitched his brow at.

”Ms. Won...” He waved a hand in front of her face and that pulled her back to reality.

”I’m sorry, I was just rethinking this whole situation.” She replied, sounding like she just had an epiphany—which she did.

Jipyeong didn’t know where she was heading with her sentiments so he took this time to take another sip of the champagne in his hand.

”Mr. Han,” Injae looked at him directly with sternness, “Let me use you this one more time.”

Her words evoked an immediate response in him that made him momentarily choke on his drink and cough hard in turn. He almost spat the alcohol out but he knew better than to do that in public. Once he recovered, he stared at her with wide eyes, startled.

_”Excuse me?”_

She deadpanned at him, not knowing if she wanted to hide under a rock or throw the rock in question _at_ him.

”I didn’t mean _that_.” She hissed, “God, why did I even ask you... Sorry, I’m being rash.”

Injae was quick to take back her words as she realized that she was being impulsive again. She was ready to walk away from this conversation but as she attempted, Jipyeong held her back by her arm.

”What do you need?” He asked her, sounding serious this time around, contrary to the cocky and scheming tone he was using earlier on.

She gave him a unmoving stare, “Nothing, forget I said anything—“

”Ms. Won, I think you should drop the tough act. You’ve been fighting to stay afloat ever since earlier.”

She didn’t resist against his grip on her arm anymore. It wasn’t like he’s never touched her before anyway... Plus, it seemed like he was genuinely willing to lend a helping hand.

”I just want to get out of here.” Injae breathed out, “As far away as possible.”

She didn't bring her car that night as she was brought here by the company car. She was supposed to take that chauffeur on her way back to her new apartment but knowing that her step-father and step-brother were here, she didn't want to risk having to ride in the same car as them since they use the same personal chauffeur.

”But this is your party, right—“

”It never really felt like it was if you ask me.” She glanced at her step-brother from across the room then back at the man she was with.

”Why?“

”Escape, now. Questions, later.” She impatiently clicked her tongue at him.

He let out an amused scoff as he let go of her arm and pursed his lips together to an equally amused smile, “Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere but here.”

He nodded as he gestured towards the exit, implying that they should get going. They both walked out of the function alongside each other, looking like an expensive pair, having a few people at the party wonder about the relationship of Morning Group’s current CEO and the renowned SH Venture Capitalist.

As they reached the outside of the building, the cool, night breeze hit their faces and gave Injae the fresh air she needed after feeling awfully suffocated in that party. He led her to the parking area as they arrived at a beautiful, white Mercedes Benz.

Her preferred luxury car brand as well.

They got in without any further exchange of words. He started the car and veered the engine as they both heard the muffled roar from outside. When he started driving, that was when she decided to talk again.

”You could ask questions now, if you’d like.”

“I have so many, I don’t know where to start.” He chuckled.

”Then let me ask first then.”

”Alright, shoot.”

“Why were you at the party?”

“I was sent to scout.” He heaved a small sigh, “Which I tried to do but no one really piqued my interest. Okay, my turn. Why did you abandon your post back there?”

”Because it was useless to stay.” She grumbled.

Injae then debated within the confines of her mind on how much she should tell him.

”Was the tension between you and your step-father earlier related the to family drama you mentioned last week?”

She shifted in the passenger seat with slight unease at the throwback to the night they slept together, “Yes.”

”I don’t want to pry too much so maybe I’ll just stop there...” He was ready to back off her case, respecting her boundaries.

”No, it’s okay.” She stared blankly at the road ahead, “This is going to sound like some self-sabotage, telling an _investor_ about this but I just don’t really care anymore... I won’t be Nature Morning’s CEO soon.”

Jipyeong was surprised to hear this, “You resigned?”

”More like replaced.” She seethed through her teeth, “The chairman is having his biological son take over.”

”What will you do now then?”

”Be jobless, that’s what I’ll do.” She bitterly threw a jab at her own self, “It’s better to be jobless than to act like some obedient, dumb mutt all the time anyway. I built Nature Morning from scratch and dedicated my life to it for the past four years, stupidly knowing all along I was given no shares at all because I thought I was actually going to get something in the long run... but all I ended up getting was some big bitch slap in the face just because I’m not his biological daughter and because I don't have a dick in between my legs.”

Jipyeong felt her rage and shared in her disappointment... He didn’t know much about Nature Morning and their operations but after hearing her out, it seemed like her situation was at its worst.

”I just can’t believe it took me this long to realize I was just some disposable pawn in this game.” She clenched her jaw and continued to sternly stare ahead. “Ah, okay, let’s not talk about this. I’m getting mad all over again.”

”I’ve got to say, the more and more I get to know you, the more and more surprised I get.”

”What’d you expect then?”

”I don’t know that either.” He admitted, “What’s for sure though is that I didn’t expect I’d be bumping into you tonight after our last encounter. Let alone being your getaway driver.”

”About that, let’s not give too much significance into what we did.” She said, “It’s the twenty-first century. It was meaningless sex. Literally, just a one night stand.”

”I never said I considered it to be more than what it was.” He defended himself, “You’re the one sounding like you’re trying to convince yourself. Why? Did you enjoy it _that_ much?”

”You and your audacity...” She muttered, “For your information, you were actually really sloppy. It was nothing special.”

He smirked, “Really? I don’t know about that but I think I recall you saying _very_ different things that night.”

She sent him a cold glare and clenched her jaw.

”See, this is why I don’t like interacting with the men I’ve slept with...” She groaned.

”Yet, you still asked me for help.” He pointed that indispensable fact out, “Ms. Won, you have to be consistent with your words if you want to be believable next time.”

She sneered at him and folded her arms on her chest.

In truth, Jipyeong was actually one of her best one night stands thus far. He was _unbelievably_ great in bed, but she didn’t want to tell him that because only god knew how much bigger his head could get.

”You’ve grilled me enough. What about you—“

”I had a great time.” He replied so surely and nonchalantly, “At least, _I’m_ being honest about it.”

“I wasn’t really going to ask about that but... go figure, I guess.” She let out a small chuckle, “I was going to ask about what you were talking about with the chairman earlier.”

Jipyeong cleared his throat and adjusted his grip on the steering wheel, abashed that he laid out his cards on the table like that when he didn’t really need to.

”You mean your step-father?” He raised his one brow at her.

”You know what I meant.”

He focused back on the road, trying to remember what that short conversation was about...

”Ah, the fact I came back to Korea just a week ago?” He asked and she nodded, “Well, there’s nothing much to it. I spent the past two years managing SH’s US Headquarters... I only came back because I was requested to come back.”

”For a promotion?” Injae tried to guess the reason for his homecoming and it caused a bitter laugh to escape Jipyeong’s lips as he thought the same at first.

”That’s what I honestly thought at first,” He said, “But it was just so that they could throw some angel investing gig at me.”

”Angel investing...?”

”It’s basically investing on something you’re not even sure will make profit... You’re investing just for the heck of it.” He sighed, “I’m given a chance to think it over ‘til Monday. If I don’t take it, I might be able to go back to States soon.”

”That’s ironic.” She scoffed, “You seem eager to go back to the States while I don’t want to.”

”I thought the chairman said that you only missed your flight last week?”

”I missed it on purpose because he was sending me to manage Nature Morning’s US Headquarters...” She recalled that day when she made that risky decision, “I didn’t go because I didn’t want to stay under my step-father’s control. He just wants to keep me at bay. I don’t like being treated like chewed-up gum.”

”You sound like you have a plan to get back on your feet already...”

”It’s in the works.” She said with a serious glint in her eyes, “When life gives you lemons... I’ll go the extra mile to make champagne.”

Jipyeong smiled a small and amused smile seeing how angrily positive she was trying to be.

As she rested her temple on the car window and looked outside into the nighttime city life of Seoul, she realized she didn’t really know where they were heading.

”Where are we going?” She asked him.

"I was hoping you'd tell me." He replied coolly as he held the steering wheel with just one hand, "Have you eaten dinner?"

"I don't have an appetite right now."

He bit his lip as he thought of what to do next, "You just wanna get some fresh air then?"

"I think I'd rather go home and call it a night." She responded with a small, tired sigh at the end.

But hearing her want to end the night already oddly dispirited him.

"Alright then." He said levelheadedly, "Where's your place?"

"It's just around the corner actually... That one over there." She pointed towards the high rise luxury condominium in the distance.

They were in one of Seoul's most affluential neighborhoods. As Jipyeong looked towards where she was pointing at, he held back a laugh.

"You mean you live in Hannam?" He asked, double-checking with her.

She nodded, "Yes. You sound surprised."

"It's nothing." He shrugged it off as he drove down the familiar road.

When they neared the residential area, instead of stopping by the lobby, Jipyeong drove straight into the basement parking which baffled his passenger.

"Only residents can park here." She said out of confusion.

He nodded, "I know."

As he passed by the security check smoothly and even received a salute from the guard, Injae scoffed.

"You didn't tell me you lived here too."

"You didn't ask." He glanced at her with a knowing smile, "Also, I've never seen you here before... When did you move in?"

"Just three days ago."

"I guess you won't be able to avoid me as much as you wanted to then..." He smickered.

Injae rolled her eyes and took her ponytail off to let her hair fall down to her shoulders, “You’re leaving anyway.”

Jipyeong glanced to his side to see the intoxicating sight of her long, wavy hair down with a few strands falling on top and framing her face. For a second there, he was taken aback but eventually regained his composure as he made a left turn to navigate through the basement parking.

”You could drop me off there by the elevator. I'll go ahead. I don’t want to prolong the agony by having to ride it with you...” She said with detachment as she fixed the content of her purse.

Jipyeong stopped the car so she could get off and that she did. Before she really left, she leaned in through the window and expressed her listless gratitude.

”Thanks for the ride and I guess for the talk as well.” She looked at him with a blank stare, “Don’t take this the wrong way but... I hope we don’t bump into each other anymore.”

Her last statement caused a small and devious smile to form on his lips along with an equally small and devious chuckle to escape from them.

”Whatever you say, Ms. One-Night-Stand.”

”Don’t call me that or I might just break your face.” She hissed.

"Just like how you nearly broke all five of my toes earlier?"

"I'm not joking."

”You’d have to see me again for you to do that, you know.” He smirked, “Good night.”

She gave a little wave as she turned her back and entered the elevator that just arrived.

As Jipyeong drove through the parking area, he couldn’t help but laugh to himself as he looked back at his night not going as planned... but he had no problem with it anyway. He may have not met a potential Sandbox applicant that intrigued him but at least he had the chance to meet the girl that he's been awfully curious about since last week. He knew doing that went against the unspoken rules of casual sex and one-nighters but it wasn't like it was a mortal sin to do so either.

Putting aside the fact that he thought she was beautiful, learning that she had an interesting story and a feisty personality to match reeled him in more than he knew.

However, he couldn't ignore the fact that there was this rattling feeling knocking at the walls of his chest that was trying to warn him of something... yet, he still chose to live in the moment and bask in the childish excitement he felt when he was able to get on the poor girl's nerves. 

Jipyeong read her like any other person he's come across in his life, having that talent very useful in his line of work.

He found it amusing that she seemed to be short-tempered and passive aggressive yet still fun to talk to. On top of that, she seemed to have a the right amount of grit and determination to exceed expectations. Though, he's noticed that she was a bit difficult to get through to, being so stubborn and guarded. She was a handful and the first thing he thought of was that her future husband had his work truly cut out for him.

 _Poor, lucky bastard; whoever that would be,_ he thought to himself.


	3. Ignition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *CAUTION: FILLER CHAPTER AHEAD*
> 
> (...yall thought sumn spicy huh mhm i see u)
> 
> Anyway, as the chapter’s title suggests, this is where everything starts to boil down to the more substantial part. So, this is more like... the calm before the storm, if I were to put it simply.
> 
> Note that this chapter will occasionally jump from Injae's perspective to Jipyeong's perspective so expect a lot of page breaks.
> 
> Also, if you haven’t seen the trailer for this AU, you could access it with this link: bit.ly/JINJAETRAILER ◡̈

It was Sunday morning. Jipyeong was on his treadmill, burning calories, while in another unit, Injae was on her laptop, working.

Starting the day productively was how they chose to preoccupy their heads for very different reasons.

Jipyeong succeeded in finding zero good potential applicants at the party last night. That meant he could report to Ms. Yoon the next day and he’d be free to go back to the States whenever he pleased... it’s what he wanted anyway. Finding an excuse to leave was his goal, so why did he feel somewhat glum about it?

Meanwhile, Injae was on a mission to get herself back in the game. She was doing market research and looking into profitable industries she could dive into. In the process of clicking on and going over a few websites of potential competitors, she came across a certain company logo, bearing a familiar name, that often popped up under the investment partners of some businesses... SH Venture Capital.

She racked her brain, trying to remember where she’s heard of that name before...

_“Well, Injae, I suppose you know this is Mr. Han Jipyeong, Senior Manager of SH Venture Capital...”_

Her step-father’s pesky voice and the words he told her from the night before found their way to echo in her head which made her momentarily cringe. 

Well, at least she was able to recall what she was trying to remember anyway... but it didn’t really help her calm her nerves as she was then stingily reminded of the— _dare_ _she_ _admit_ _it_ —devilishly handsome face that she truly wished could’ve remained in the foggy anamneses of that annoyingly unforgettable night.

In the brief moments of her reluctant reminiscing, she mistakenly clicked on the logo her cursor was hovering on as her browser brought her to the home page of the SH Venture Capital website.

She pulled herself back to reality as soon as she realized what she’s done but just as she was about to close the tab to resume with her research, her eyes fell on the red logo that stood out amidst the cool and muted tones on her screen.

_SANDBOX — Accepting applicants for its prestigious 12th residency program._

_Submit your application now and embark on your journey to follow your dreams!_

She found herself staring at that portion of the webpage at an unnecessary duration... She acknowledged it within herself that she almost forgot about how the answer to the main bane of her existence at that moment was just an application away, having been aware, since a long time ago, with Sandbox and its reputation of being _the_ institution that all start-ups in South Korea dream of getting into.

However, doubts began to cloud her judgement as she realized how risky it was for her, the step-daughter of Morning Group’s chairman, to enter a program where the financially needy turn to in desperation.

It wasn’t like the whole world knew about her pitiful backstory... she knew right off the bat that she was bound to receive at least a handful of public backlash if she were to attempt at getting into Sandbox. People tend to take things for what’s out in the open and straightaway give the notorious prejudicial trial by publicity.

She sighed and bit her lip, at a crossroads as to what she should do next. As she gave the advertisement another look, her attention was then strangely caught by the Sandbox logo this time around. Observing that girl on the swing unlocked deep memories in her mind... memories that she tucked away for a reason.

As much as it pained her to relive those forsaken, bittersweet pieces of her past, they still helped her clear her head.

Just as they helped her scrape up enough courage to download an application form.

Having that fear of the unknown has always been known to be a great hindrance to many. It’s prevented a lot of people from pursuing things that they were never even entirely sure would fail. There was always that hopeful ‘what if’ that many choose to ignore for the sake of staying within their comfort-zone.

However, Won Injae was no longer giving into that impudent feeling. She was taking the risk, throwing all caution into the wind. Come what may. She was ready to write her own algorithm for success.

**────────────────**

Later that day as Jipyeong was having his usual, lonesome and late lunch, his phone lit up with a notification. He put down his chopsticks as he turned to his personal gadget in confusion... If he recalled correctly, today was Sunday. He wasn't needed at the office, right? It was really rare he'd communicate with anyone outside of work—let alone on a Sunday. Call it sad but he's gotten used to his solitaire lifestyle.

He picked his phone up and checked what the small alert was for with high hopes that it was just for another software update... but as soon as he saw that it was an email from CEO Yoon Seonhak, he slid his thumb across the phone screen, unlocking it, with urgency. 

He then promptly read the content of the electronic message.

_Good afternoon, Mr. Han._

_My apologies for having to disturb your Sunday but I hope all is well with you._

_I also hope you were able to meet some applicants from last night's party. In addition to your gathered intel, attached to this email is the compilation of submitted applications as of 11:54 AM today and you may also find a simpler list which you can access through excel._

_You may browse through them and see if any of them catches your attention. Again, I'm not urging you to take the Sandbox mentor position and so, I must apologize for pestering you with this since last week. I just highly encourage you to consider it as it is not just I that sees the great potential in you to guide a start-up._

_Whether you choose to decline or accept the offer, your response will be expected tomorrow._

_Have a restful Sunday,_

_Ms. Yoon_

_[ Attachment: 2 files ]_

The venture capitalist then tapped on the first file that came in with the email as he was redirected to the PDF reader on his phone.

He didn’t really expect anything less than a hundred applications as he knew how many people strived to get into Sandbox every year, but the number of pages still shocked him. There were over three hundred pages which meant three hundred applicants given that a single page was a single form.

No way was he going to read through all of them... He mindlessly scrolled through the file and skimmed a few applications before giving up on the dizzying number of Sandbox hopefuls for the meantime. He retreated back to the email and opened the alleged simpler version of the list instead.

As per Ms. Yoon’s message, it was an excel file and there he found all the applicant names arranged in alphabetical order and their general information such as their birthdays, their business names, their emails and alike. It was less overwhelming to read compared to the PDF version.

As he went over the file, scanning the information freely, he came across a familiar name that didn’t even take a second for him to recognize: Won Injae.

Were his eyes deceiving him? He stared at his phone screen in astonishment. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since his last encounter with her but it seemed like she was following him around or something.

He took a second to doubt it. It may have been a different Won Injae anyway... Plus, he thought that it’d be too much of a coincidence if it were really her. 

He immediately opened the PDF file again as he then searched up her applicant number and there he was presented with the corresponding application form.

The first thing that caught his eye was the ID picture that was attached to the upper right corner of the page. He zoomed in on it, just enough to get clear confirmation that it was indeed the woman whom he had been suspecting it to be.

A curious smile then painted itself on his lips as he wondered why was she interested in Sandbox in the first place.

However, it was at that moment when he suddenly remembered the short, devastating story that she shared with him the night before in his car... it was a story that got _even_ _him_ riled up—and with Han Jipyeong being one of the most apathetic people in the world, that really meant something.

Then it all just made sense.

She wanted to get back on her feet, but he’s observed her enough to know that she wouldn’t dare ask help from her step-father. She seemed to value her pride very much, that’s why. So Sandbox was her only option if she wanted a relatively smooth ride.

He now knew part of the reason why she was doing this and it intrigued him. What pulled him in even deeper into her mystery was the knowledge of her capabilities as a CEO, knowing that the current company under her auspice has always been at the top of its game. She was truly a force to be reckoned with... and most especially now that she was driven not only by her ambition but her anger as well.

There was no doubt that she was a competent and accomplished businesswoman. He was so sure of her skills that he could already envision her strutting through Sandbox’s halls with those expensive, killer heels that almost shattered all the bones in his left foot.

Jipyeong let out a long and heavy sigh accompanied by a small, confused smile as he was now in a rather serious bind. He set down his phone with his fingers drumming against the glass table, consumed in his warring thoughts. 

His mind wandered as he contemplated what he should do next. As his eyes then fell on his passport that he brought out this morning in preparation for his trip back to the States, he couldn’t help but laugh to himself as he realized he wasn’t going to need it anytime soon after all.

He never really thought he’d ultimately find that one applicant he was finally interested in at such last minute... that one applicant that made him stay.

**────────────────**

As far as dramatic haircuts go, Injae was dead-set on having the most extreme one—or at least, the most extreme one in _her opinion._ She was chopping off more than half of her hair today and she was nervous about it just as she was thrilled. This was her way in throwing an ultimatum.

After submitting her Sandbox application that morning, she decided to dedicate that Sunday to self-pampering. God knew she needed it anyway.

She was convinced that her past two weeks were personally curated by Lucifer himself.

Looking back on the immense troubles she's faced recently really cemented her goals to redeem herself. She wanted to prove herself not just to her step-father, but also to herself. She's come to reluctantly face the unglamorous truth that she's made some selfish and shameless decisions in the past... and although she knew those were made with good reason, she still wasn't exactly proud of them.

Now that she was on her way to start anew, she wasn't aiming to erase those things as they were part of who she was: flawed but nevertheless brilliant. Instead, she just wanted to overshadow them with the much better decisions she'll make from then on.

After her haircut, she left to have a quick snack at the nearby cafe where she had to wait in line as she figured that it was some kind of rush hour for a few office workers, seeing how many formally dressed people were queuing with her. As she was minding her own business, a familiar voice suddenly called out to her from behind.

"Injae...?"

The voice was female. Soft-spoken but charismatic, shy but bold... Injae had an inkling as to who it was but she was wavering, nervous.

She slowly turned around to face the person who had called her name and for a second there, she was left speechless. Stood in front of her in that crowded cafe was a woman in her late-20s, a woman she hasn't seen in years... What exactly were the odds that they’d bump into each other right then and there.

Injae thought that the universe was definitely plotting against her, putting her in these unbelievably tensed situations, completely unprepared.

She wondered what kind of grave mortal sin did she commit in her past life to deserve these unlucky encounters.

"Dalmi." Injae carefully let that name escape her lips as if it were such a foreign thing for her to say.

The younger woman stared at her with an unreadable expression on her face, "It's been a while."

"It has..." Injae replied with a cautious tone.

The tension that grew between them became more and more paralyzing by the second. It was a good thing that the cashier called for Injae's attention as it was her turn to order next, cutting the invisible string that held them at their throats suffocatingly.

Injae placed her order and so did Dalmi. They even ended up sitting together to catch up with each other at the very unfortunate expense of their comfort.

"What are you doing in this part of town?" Dalmi asked, trying to maintain her composure.

And Injae answered, with the same struggle, "I just had a haircut. You?"

"Visiting a friend."

A silence fell between them for no more than four seconds but anyone could've sensed the unrest and agitation between the two women.

"Well, uh... How are you?" Injae spoke to break the tension, "What have you been up to?"

Dalmi took a sip from her coffee and placed the cup on the table in front of her, "I'm fine, but I've been busy. Grandma just opened another branch in Gangnam. I suppose you know about Cheongmyeong Corndog's scale-up over the years."

Injae felt a wave of melancholic nostalgia wash over her at the mention of their grandmother and the corndog business that they used to hang out at when they were much younger.

"I'm aware. That's great." She responded, "Grandma's doing fine, too?"

"Of course. She's actually been aging backwards recently, being so lively and all." Her sister nodded, "What about you?"

"I'm doing... alright."

Another silence. This time, more overwhelming than last time.

It was so weird to actually see each other in person again. They’d usually be updated with each other’s lives by reading the articles written about them throughout the years and through the posts they see on each other’s social media... they thought knowing the bare minimum about one another was enough to withstand a real-life confrontation but apparently, it wasn’t.

They had so many questions to ask, things to say, and frustrations to make known. They felt like they were about to go into overload with the emotions and sentiments they had to keep at bay.

And so, here they were. Awkwardly sitting right in front of each other, acting like they weren’t sisters, like they were never best friends once upon a long time ago.

They let the background noise fill the air between them for a while up until one of them decided to stop beating around the bush.

"You'll have to forgive my awkwardness right now, it's just that I'm really surprised to see you after all these years and... I don't really know how to talk to you anymore." Dalmi put her foot down with a bitter sigh, "You and mom didn't even come back for dad's funeral."

Injae breathed out expectantly, knowing that their conversation was bound to head towards this direction eventually. She was actually surprised that they were able to avoid it for as long as they did.

"Dalmi..."

"You don't need to say anything. Even if you had a valid reason, it would still sound like a sad excuse to me." Said the younger woman, evading eye-contact.

Injae opened her mouth to say something but Dalmi cut her off again.

"You've been CEO of Nature Morning, right? I thought you were supposed to be in the States."

Cue the unpleasant flashbacks that played in Injae's head, "Well, I'm back now. It got a bit stuffy there so I guess I might hang around here a bit longer."

"Ah, to oversee the South Korean headquarters, I presume? Look at you, talking like a true conglomerate heir. You've really convinced yourself of that identity, haven't you?" Dalmi feigned interest and hid her subtle jealousy, "Must be nice to have such a powerful step-dad. You don't have to worry about a thing."

That last sentence made Injae’s blood boil no matter how much she tried to be civil.

She bawled her fists and clenched her jaw... her estranged sister was discrediting her hard work and dedication just like everybody else, all because of the godforsaken name she carried—as if they knew her enough to have the right do that.

What did she expect anyway?

”And here you are, talking like you wouldn’t do the same thing...” She muttered under her breath, her comment not meant to be heard by the younger woman in front of her... but she still did.

”What did you say?” Dalmi raised a brow.

Injae pursed her lips to a thin line and looked to her with an unmoving stare, “Would you have been able to resist the perks of this life if it ever happened to you? Be honest.”

Seo Dalmi stayed silent.

”As much as I _truly_ hate to admit it, I owe my step-father the edge I had when I got into this business...” She seethed, “But I’ll just have you know that everything that came after that promising start, I did it all on my own. I had to build up a company with my _own_ hands. You could say that I exploited my resources to the fullest but please just don’t degrade my efforts and don’t say that I had nothing to worry about because you know _nothing_ about the things I’ve been through. I’ve made choices in my life that I’m not entirely proud of but I did it anyway to survive. I did it so that I can ensure my _own_ path. You could be as righteous as you want but you can’t blame me for being human.”

Dalmi saw the point in what her older sister just said, but it still wasn’t enough to make up for one thing.

”Yes, you’re human.” She agreed half-heartedly, “But could you admit that you lacked humanity when you and mom didn’t even bother to call or check up on grandma and I when dad passed?”

Injae gave Dalmi a pained and hard stare as she felt herself caught in her own trap.

What else was there to say besides...

”I’m sorry.” She had her throat tighten when she uttered those words with sincerity, “On behalf of mom, too. I’m sorry.”

Dalmi didn’t expect to hear those words today. Heck, she didn’t even expect to see her sister today.

”We wanted to come home, believe me...” Injae felt a knot in her throat, recalling unwanted memories, “But my step-father said otherwise and we couldn’t protest.”

“I could _try_ to understand that...” Dalmi muttered as she looked away from her sister again.

”Also, I want to put this out there to just quickly rip off the bandaid... the oh-so-charmed life you think I have right now is all a big ruse.” Injae scorned bitterly as she couldn’t quite believe she was really about to put down all her defenses... again. “I’ll be jobless in a few days time. I’ll be replaced by the chairman’s biological son and by the way, I have no shares in the company I helped build from the ground up. I admit, it _was_ nice while it lasted but it all came crumbling down as expected...”

She should’ve prepared some script for this at that point. Who was next in line to hear her sob-story? She’s checked mister snarky and her prodigal sister off her list already anyway...

All the while as Dalmi was surprised to hear all of this. She so suddenly had sympathy for her sister even after all these years of promising herself that she would forever hold a grudge against her... but she didn’t allow herself to give in easily to her softness.

So she scoffed and quipped, “So... you’re finally admitting that you made the wrong choice to leave with mom?”

”I didn’t make the wrong choice.” Injae was rather adamant about her statement which made Dalmi furrow her brows in offense, “But you didn’t make the wrong choice either.” 

The young Seo was taken aback.

”Our choices had their own repercussions... We fought our own battles and to say the other one made the wrong choice just because we chose to keep _both_ of our parents company is just wrong to me.” Injae continued, “I’ve realized all that along the way.”

The silence that fell in between them this time around was not as strained as before... it actually felt like a tension had been released even.

”I didn’t expect this kind of maturity from you...” Dalmi commented.

“I’m older than you. I’ve always been the more mature one.”

”I think you’re confusing being mature with being moody all the time.” Dalmi rolled her eyes at her, “I truly wonder how all your past boyfriends put up with you.”

“Why? How many boyfriends have _you_ had?” Injae cocked a brow with her arms on her chest.

Her younger sister cleared her throat and straightened her back to vaguely respond to the rather incriminating question, “I’m just picky.”

”No, you’re just careless.” Injae flat-out spewed the harsh truth with such an unfeeling and unapologetic look in her eyes, “That and you’ve always had the worst taste in men.”

_“Hey.”_

The reaction she got from Dalmi was enough to let a very small laugh escape her lips as she took a knowing sip from her hot green tea.

”You think you’re so high up in the dating scene just because dated some hotshot from Silicon Valley, huh?” Dalmi snarled at her.

“It was a _fling_ that lasted no more than _three months_.” Injae corrected her, “And how did you know that?”

”The Korean-American business tabloids I’m subscribed to would surprise you, sis.” The younger sister smirked.

”Well, at least you know what kind of men I’m able to charm because for the record, I’ve _never_ had to chase anyone before in my life.”

The two then shared a moment of snickering and suppressed smiles.

It was really strange how they went from awkward strangers, to heated rivals, to bickering sisters in the span of the fifteen minutes they spent together... it was strange—but it just felt so natural.

”Look, Injae...” Dalmi was ready to say her piece this time, nervously squeezing her coffee cup, “For what it’s worth... I’m sorry for thinking the worst of you and mom. I’ve just always been so carried away with the anger I’ve bottled up for the past fifteen years ever since you left. So, that one’s on me. If it’s the same for you, I’d like to make amends. I know we still have a lot to talk about but I’m... I’m kinda glad we got this far even if it’s not much.”

Injae looked at Dalmi with uncertainty but with hope. Underneath all the grudges they’ve held against one another is the bond of two sisters that was aching to feel alive again.

”Okay.” Was all that she replied with to her younger sister’s proposal for a truce.

Dalmi then chewed on the inside of her cheek, trying to think of what to say next and when it came to her, she asked straightaway, “By the way... How’s mom?”

Injae sighed as she was brought back to the day when she stormed into that shareholders’ meeting to announce her resignation from Morning Group.

Her mom was there to stop her but to no avail. She was already acting like some rebellious teenager by then though... she’s been staying at five-star hotels, not wanting to go back home as a form of a tantrum directed towards her second husband. Last she’s heard from her was when she called her up to invite her to the networking party but she strongly refused, not wanting to see the chairman.

”She’s... hanging in there.” Injae suffered with the lack of a better term, not knowing how to explain the story without spilling the secrets that weren’t hers to tell.

They spent the next two hours talking to each other in that cozy spot by the window, catching up, explaining their sides, having their sisterly banter, and occasionally apologizing for the things they felt responsible for.

They had to admit within themselves that they missed being able to chat with each other like this... but it wasn’t like they were actually going to admit it to each other.

One thing they had in common, that no amount of time of separation could take away from them, was their childish pride.

**────────────────**

The day Mr. Han informed Ms. Yoon about him accepting the Sandbox mentor position was the day the whole SH Venture Capital office started the day off completely shell-shocked at seeing the infamously brooding senior manager clock-in to work looking... _happy_.

He wasn’t smiling _that_ big, but it just seemed like he woke up on the right side of the bed for once.

Heck, it was just that day when his subordinates realized how truly deep his dimples were.

Even Ms. Yoon was surprised to see this different side of Han Jipyeong.

There was nothing wrong with it, though. It was rather refreshing to see him like this, so naturally upbeat after a week of having him look like some dark, stormy cloud was following him wherever he went.

“May I ask which applicant got you interested in becoming a Sandbox mentor, Mr. Han?” Ms. Yoon asked with a curious smile, “You were so adamant on your refusal just the other day. What changed your mind?”

”I came across an applicant with promising talents.” He replied vaguely with a small grin, “I actually met them at the networking party but at that time, I wasn’t aware they were applying for Sandbox residency.”

”Hmm... sounds like they reeled you in on their own, I see.” The grey-haired woman smirked with amusement, “I can’t wait to meet this groundbreaking prospect.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting them again as well, Ms. Yoon.”

Little did the SH Venture Capital team know that Mr. Han didn't really know what he was getting himself into.

The next few days then flew by in a second. Jipyeong and Injae miraculously never really bumped into each other again even as they were living in the same residential condominium. This made Injae think he had left for the States already while it made Jipyeong think that Injae was just plainly avoiding him... of which the latter was actually true.

Now, when the first screening results came out, the next thing everybody knew was that the finalists were finally invited to Sandbox for the deciding match for the select few that would be accepted into its twelfth residency program.

Jipyeong wandered around the receiving area of the building where all the applicants gathered, mingling with each other, as he scanned the space, looking for a particular face. He was too absorbed in his search that he wasn't able to sense his junior coming up from behind him which caused him to flinch in surprise when he greeted the senior manager with his bright and booming voice.

"What is it, Mr. Park?" He composed himself again quickly.

"I just came by to give you your mentor shirt.” The cheery junior handed him a black shirt.

Jipyeong scoffed and shook his head, “I’m not wearing that.”

”Sir, but it’s recommended that you do...”

He stood his ground and clicked his tongue, “I’m _not_ wearing that, I’m sorry.”

Jipyeong was in his signature smart casual suit with a pair of converse for that laid-back accent. He wasn’t going to give up his stylish and expensive outfit for a tacky tee shirt. 

Dongcheon chose not to pester him anymore and gave in. Wearing the shirts assigned to their position wasn’t required anyway but everybody else seemed to have no problem with complying with it... but he should’ve known that his boss was very picky about his fashion-sense.

As they parted ways, Jipyeong then made a mental note to avoid Dongcheon for the rest of the day... God knows what other Sandbox staff rituals he’d be asked to do.

He walked around some more and continued to observe the crowd. After a few more minutes of circling the same area, he decided to head on back inside but just as he was about to leave, that was when he caught a glimpse of a woman’s reflection through the glass doors.

He recognized the vague figure as it passed by behind him. He turned around to spot the back of the woman he’s been hoping to bump into for the past week. He curved his lips to a subtle smirk as he walked towards her.

 _So she got a haircut_.

That was the first thing he noticed about her.

_It suits her._

She was busy with something on her phone. Her eyes were so glued to the small screen in her hand that she didn’t even notice Jipyeong already standing next to her, stealing obvious glances from her with a foolish smile. After relishing in her absentmindedness for a few seconds, he decided to make his presence known by clearing his throat.

That made her jump a little as she looked at him with confusion and shock. Her reaction much like how Jipyeong carried himself when Dongcheon snuck up on him earlier. 

When she recognized him after snapping out of the daze she was in, she dropped her jaw ever so slightly as she scorned.

 _”Well, fuck.”_ She breathed out with a tired sigh.

”It’s nice to see you too, Ms. Won.” He chuckled softly with his dimples showing at the sides of his mouth.

She was really surprised to see him here. She thought he had left the country already.

”Aren’t you supposed to be on the other side of the Pacific Ocean right now?” She asked irately.

”I had a change of plans.” He replied, “I ended up taking that charity gig at work.”

”And you’re here specifically because...?”

”SH owns part of Sandbox and our office is here—“

”No, I meant ‘here’ as in beside me.” She rolled her eyes at him.

Jipyeong snorted in reply, “I didn’t expect to see a familiar face today, that’s all. So I thought I should drop by and say hi.”

”You just did. You can leave now.” She really wanted to shoo him away already, “Go to work in your office or something.”

”I _am_ working right now.”

Injae cocked a brow, “How is getting on my nerves work for you?”

”Well, as your possible future mentor, it just is.”

She scoffed as she couldn’t believe this was happening right now... 

“You?” She said, “You’re one of the Sandbox mentors?”

”I’m afraid so, Ms. Won.” He responded with a smile, “I wish you the best of luck.”

”If you’re a mentor, where’s your shirt?”

He tilted his head in slight confusion, "What?"

"I may not be so familiar with Sandbox and how things work around here but I know that you're supposed to be wearing a mentor shirt right now if I'm not mistaken." 

Jipyeong dug his hands in his pants' pocket, "It's not my style. Plus, I look good enough already."

"I don't think wearing the shirt would take that away from you..." Injae shrugged, "I actually kind of like how it looks like."

He smugly smirked at her response, "Did you just agree with me?"

"On what?"

"That I look good." He smiled cheekily as wanted to get her flustered again, finding it rather fun to tease her.

But her reaction was far from what he expected.

"You know, I wouldn't have slept with you if I thought otherwise." She cracked a knowing half-smile.

Injae knew by then that he probably won't stop anytime soon with the snarky and narcissistic comments and with the universe repeatedly making them cross paths meant that she would very much so have to tolerate him and his shameless quips for longer than she could bare... So if she couldn't beat him, she might as well join him instead.

Jipyeong tried to laugh it off coolly but the way he was taken aback was unmissable, "I didn't think you would actually admit to it."

"I just didn't want you to have all the fun." She replied as she crossed her arms on her chest, "Alright I gotta go. I still have to register my attendance. Goodbye, Mr. Han."

And she walked off just like that, leaving Jipyeong to deal with his dumbfoundedness. Not much went on in his head at that moment but he immediately knew that he needed to do one thing and that was finding none other than Park Dongcheon.

He ended up needing that shirt after all.


	4. Crowded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovely readers. ◡̈
> 
> Sorry it took me quite some time to post an update... I actually finished this chapter a week ago but I felt like it would be better to have a double-update so it wouldn't feel like another cliffhanger if it just ended with this. So yes, the next chapter is already published too <3 I'm sorry if there isn't much going on with Jipyeong and Injae right now but that's because I'm still building up the story to the /real/ story between them. I promise to deliver more heated arguments and moments in the future hehe she just has to get into Sandbox first :000
> 
> Btw, here's a playlist I curated for this fic if yall just want to go through a musical crash course for this story: bit.ly/JINJAEPLAYLIST (If you go through most of the whole 6 hours of the playlist, you can pretty much piece together enough context clues to what I'm going to do with this story LMAO)
> 
> Also !! If you want updates on my progress with this story, you can check me out on twitter heheh (@_seonhoney).

Jipyeong stood by the doors in the mentor shirt he had to track and chase Dongcheon down for. He wasn’t used to this kind of get-up but at least it felt comfortable.

He watched from afar as the applicants rounded themselves up in the auditorium. Ms. Yoon was on the stage welcoming the crowd of over four hundred aspiring Sandbox residents just as she gave a rousing introductory speech featuring the story behind the name and emblem of the very institution they were standing in.

She told them about how the short elevator anecdote of a loving father protecting his little girl inspired the concept of Sandbox being a safe-space for entrepreneurs to discover and play around with their capabilities, not having to worry about getting hurt in the process.

Jipyeong already knew this story but still listened to it like it was his first time all over again, not knowing why he was so fascinated with the idea of something or someone being there for you when you’re in need of warmth and security... but maybe it was probably because he never had that in the thirty-three years of his existence.

Thinking about it made him feel somewhat sad for a moment but he wasn’t _too_ emotional about it. It's what he always told himself anyway—to not be too emotional about anything. He's probably even convinced himself of emotion as weakness. He really has gotten used to fending for himself and getting by on his own so much that those kinds of pitiful realities have already little to no effect on him.

Numb. Indifferent. Tough. Han Jipyeong was like that _not_ because he chose to but because he _had_ to—in order for society not to swallow him whole.

Now in another part of the auditorium stood Won Injae in the sea of people listening to Ms. Yoon as she suddenly felt like it was too coincidental that she had a memory that she shared with her sister that closely resembled the story that was just recently told...

However, she wasn’t able to give it much thought as the Sandbox director then started to explain the mechanics to the first test the applicants were to partake in. The world around her slowed down and the background noise of murmurs muffled. She was determined to ace whatever was coming her way from then on. 

She was only even more focused as it was made known that the online test they were to take would decide who among the applicants were qualified to be CEOs.

”CEOs aren't just supposed to be great leaders. They also have to be adept and informed with today's rapidly changing culture to be able to adapt to any situation given to them. So please go scan the QR code on the screen behind me and you will be redirected to the website where you will have to answer as many questions about general knowledge as you can in just two minutes.” Ms. Yoon smiled, “Good luck, everyone.”

On the sidelines, Jipyeong observed how everyone then brought out their phones to take the test. It was a sea of glowing screens and bowed heads, deep in concentration.

”Mr. Han, is that you?” A voice called out to Jipyeong from behind.

The venture capitalist turned his head ever so slightly to take a look at who it was that recognized him.

As his eyes landed on the Korean man with slick, black hair, stubble, and the radiating aura of a foreigner, he widened his eyes in surprise; wondering what was a 2STO representative doing here... Jipyeong was never totally acquainted with the man but he’s met him a handful of other times before for work as SH Venture Capital was one of 2STO’s many investment partners.

”Mr. Kwon, this is unexpected.” Jipyeong greeted him with a handshake, “It’s been a long time.”

”I was invited to be one of the Sandbox mentors and I couldn’t turn down the chances of finding hidden gems.” He smiled as he took his spot next to where Jipyeong stood, giving him a view of all the applicants as well.

“Oh, I see...” Jipyeong said then proceeded to make small talk, “When did you come back from San Francisco?”

”Just yesterday actually. I heard you came back two weeks ago?”

He nodded, “I did. They called me in for the same thing.”

”Sandbox takes their mentorship program very seriously. It’s only damn right that they pick the best of the best.” Alex chuckled, “The select companies would surely have the most difficult time in picking out just one of us.”

Jipyeong only gave out a small smile in subtle agreement, having that little moment to boast how revered they were in their respective fields.

 _“Time’s up!”_ Ms. Yoon spoke into her microphone as the two minutes had already passed, “Please refer to the screen behind me. The applicant numbers shown are the applicant numbers of those who have what it takes to be the kind of leader that the Sandbox program can use. If you see your number up there, please come up on stage.”

Alex Kwon smiled excitedly as he clasped his hands together, “Alright. Let’s see who we’re dealing with...”

The two men watched as people began climbing up on stage. There were over twenty or so applicants if they were to make a rough estimate.

They were giving the small group a quick scan but after a few fleeting moments, that was when they had their eyes fall on a particularly charismatic woman with short hair, looking like the guest of honor with her standing at the center and with the spotlight giving her more justice than anyone else on that stage.

Jipyeong smirked, feeling sort of smugly proud of himself that he betted his hypothetical money on the right person for whatever it was he was betting on.

”Is that... _Won Injae?_ ” Alex cocked his brows in pleasant surprise, “What’s she doing here?”

Jipyeong looked at him curiously, “You know her?”

”I guess you could say that.” He knowingly and subtly grinned, “She visited Silicon Valley on behalf of Morning Group to cut a deal with 2STO before. She’s already CEO of Nature Morning, why is she applying for Sandbox?”

Of course, Jipyeong the answer to his question but he knew he wasn't in any jurisdiction to disclose a secret that wasn't his to tell.

"Beats me." He replied, feigning ignorance, "But you seem to be really intrigued now that you've seen her."

"I've _always_ been intrigued by that woman." Alex laughed heartily, "She's really gutsy, that one."

Something told Jipyeong that there was more to Alex Kwon's connection to Won Injae by the way he was talking about her... but he chose not to pry into that. It wasn't like he could burn calories from jumping to conclusions anyway. All he could think about at that moment regarding the tech mogul beside him was the competition he sensed along their paths in becoming a particular someone's mentor.

In the middle of their conversation, Ms. Yoon then informed the crowd of what was in-stored next for them as she went on about the next one hour being a recruitment period for the chosen CEOs to pick their teams of four to six people out of the sea of applicants because after that one hour, a hackathon will be set into motion. That will be the big deciding match for the limited spots in the 12th residency program.

Once the timer appeared on the big LED screen, Injae wasted no time as she went down the stage to scout for her future company. As she went around, looking, a few people started recognizing her and began murmuring amongst themselves. They all wondered the same thing as what Alex Kwon asked Jipyeong earlier, but with a little bit more spite... because what on earth was a rich girl doing here?

Some people thought it was brazen for her to be here while some people wanted to be on her team. Some people felt competitive against her while some people felt intimidated to be up against her. Some people gave a damn and some people just didn't.

Injae was not blind to this public reaction, fully aware of the probing eyes silently judging her. Yet, she remained calm and focused at the task at hand: finding competent colleagues. She needed developers, designers, and strategists. She knew what was she was looking for and wasn't going to settle for anything less.

Minutes passed and as she laid eyes on her first two prospects, she immediately approached them with confidence in her stride.

"Hello, I'm Won Injae." She introduced herself to the two plaid-clad men who were taken aback at her sudden advance, "I suppose you two are developers?"

They cleared their throats and recomposed themselves just as one of them spoke up, "How can you tell?"

They were anticipating the usual responses that they've been hearing for the past ten minutes which were usually along the lines of _'because you look like it'_ which basically translated to _'because you look like nerds'..._ but the woman's answer was refreshingly different.

"You're both carrying laptop bags big enough to fit the essentials which I presume are: a decent pc laptop, headphones, and a good mechanical mouse." Injae expressed her observation, "Also, it says on your ID tags: 'Sansan Tech' so I'm pretty sure you're developers, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong."

The two men looked at each other with high-strung glances.

"Uh, you're... you're not wrong." One of them replied, "I'm sorry if this sounds too forward but... aren't you CEO Won of Nature Morning?"

She sighed. She knew she was going to get this question eventually, "Yes, but I don't have enough time to tell you my backstory yet. Listen, I want to make this quick. I'm looking to recruit you two as my developers but I need to know three things."

They nodded, showing their interest in her offer and their go-signal to her inquiries.

"First, what are your names?" She asked her first question.

"I'm Lee Chulsan." The shorter one answered with a small and nervous smile and proceeded to introduce his friend, "This is Kim Yongsan."

_Chulsan... Yongsan... Sansan Tech... Oh, God._

Injae brushed the cheesy name off her mind and went on to ask the more important things, "May I know what kind of technology you're developing?"

"Artificial intelligence. Image recognition." Yongsan was the one who spoke up this time.

 _Interesting_.

"Your accuracy rate?" She asked once more, the most important deciding factor.

Chulsan put on a confident smile amidst his jitteriness, "97.45 percent."

Color Injae impressed, she cracked a small smile in blest discovery. She wanted to give herself a pat on the back for securing valuable assets just now.

"I'm looking forward to working with you two." She extended her hand to shake their hands.

The two developers smiled in gratitude and expressed their thanks, "Thank you so much. A lot of people have been passing on us."

"That means they were just asking the wrong questions then." She scoffed as she then instructed them to follow her, going on to recruit one or two more people.

Injae knew that she had no spare time to spend dilly dallying. She needed a designer and a strategist next.

And after a few minutes, she luckily spotted a tall, elegant-looking woman radiating just the aura she was looking for. She was on a roll today, huh.

**────────────────**

Han Jipyeong found himself zoning out as he was waiting for his coffee at the Sandbox cafeteria. He stepped out of the auditorium for a while to organize his thoughts as they were beginning to become soupy, unclear, and overwhelming. Injae was bound to get into the residency program, he was sure of that... but he just didn’t know exactly why he seemed a bit _too_ invested in her success.

He only realized that a few minutes ago when he caught himself worrying about the unlikely event of her failing the hackathon. He remembered the familiar drawn-out emotion he was feeling... He's felt it before but he just couldn't remember the experience that came along with it. It was just the arising and unsettling churning in his chest that he immediately recognized which he reacted to with dread.

That little run down of thoughts left him to take his time to look back on how their uncanny relationship has ungracefully bloomed thus far, and he didn’t quite know if he should laugh or be skeptical about it.

He was sure that even Injae didn’t really think of bumping into each other after the night they slept together, let alone finding out that they moved into the same apartment and that they were bound to meet each other again at Sandbox, at risk at having to work with each other in the future.

Jipyeong sighed. He knew one night stands weren’t supposed to work like this but what could he do about it?

He's been acting unbothered by how the recent events have been unfolding but it didn't mean he wasn't irked by them one bit. Perhaps he was just a tad bit more relaxed about it than Injae. They were both bound to each other so twistedly by fate.

The universe was cruel yet indulging indeed.

They haven’t even really gotten to know each other but for some very odd reason, Jipyeong felt like he was somewhat ready to bend all his strict investor principles for her... and him being one of the best venture capitalists in Korea, that little notion of his wasn’t so smart and strategic.

Yes, he knew she was beyond capable of getting into Sandbox and maybe even securing funding within the first few months of her residency but it really just wasn’t like him to go around carelessly placing bets on companies. Although, his instincts have never failed him before though... so what the hell was going on?

It just wasn’t to his knowledge that Won Injae had her claws deep into his brain already. Her grasp on him only got tighter and tighter with each time he attempted to break free.

As the robot waiter approached his table, he picked up his cup of coffee from it and blankly stared into space. His mind was suddenly brought to another important factor that he failed to seriously consider...

Granted that she and her new-fledged company passes the hackathon with flying colors and makes it into Sandbox, one final determinant remained and that was:if she doesn’t pick him as a mentor at the end of all of this... then what?

He took this mentor position out of pure curiosity and out of the rush of the moment when he found out she was one of the Sandbox applicants. It truly bewildered him as he realized he hasn’t come up with some back-up plan yet for when things don’t go his way.

How else was he going to benefit from staying?

The senior manager stood from his seat and decided to check back on the situation in the auditorium. Supposedly people would already be starting on their hackathon projects by then. He covertly wandered the busy room, but when he could no longer see the woman he was looking for in there, he decided to visit the next room where the companies would be working.

He peaked inside and scanned the room once more. In his search, he was able to spot Dongcheon making his rounds and that made Jipyeong call him over to him. It took a few whisper-yells but the junior ended up responding anyway.

”Yes, Mr. Han?” He asked with a warm and polite smile as he approached his senior.

He needed to be subtle with his questions from then on. He didn’t want the nosy Dongcheon to know he was doing reconnoissance on one of the applicants... 

”What have you been observing so far?”

”Some companies are already coming up with pitches, sir—but some companies are still trying to complete themselves.” Dongcheon replied vaguely, “They’re all really busy right now.”

”I heard Won Injae of Nature Morning is here...? Is that true?” He played dumb for sake of it, hoping Dongcheon would tell him more details.

”Ah, her.” He nodded in recognition as he pointed towards their table, “She’s heading Injae Company. She came in to register a full team just ten minutes minutes ago. I overheard their brainstorming earlier. Their idea seemed promising.”

”What is it?” Jipyeong asked, observing them from afar.

”Healthcare artificial intelligence.” Dongcheon responded with an impressed smile just thinking about it, “They might work on a program that could help diagnose diseases that human eyes can’t easily discern.”

”It's a good idea... but it’s a bit ambitious, don't you think?” Jipyeong looked back at his subordinate as he said it out of doubt, “Will they be able to finish that within forty-eight hours?”

”They seemed confident.” Dongcheon shrugged.

Jipyeong scoffed, “Confidence isn’t everything, Mr. Park.”

”Are you interested in Injae Company, sir?”

”What? _No_.” He was quick to dismiss the harmless accusation with a lie, “Look, okay, you can go now. I’ll do my own rounds. Thank you for the intel.”

Jipyeong shooed Dongcheon away with the wave of his hand as he observed Injae a little bit more. He wondered what must have been going on in that woman's head. An order that tall and she only had four people in her team, herself included.

He was going to start fussing about it in his head but he was able to stop himself this time. He wasn't going to meddle. At all. She could handle herself just fine.

Jipyeong took a deep breath as he was going to turn away and maybe spend the rest of his time keeping himself busy with pretending to be as invested in the other start-ups in the room... but once he saw Injae stand up from her seat and head out of the room, he wondered where she was going.

He blindly followed her out of curiosity and it led him to the washrooms just outside the auditorium. She went into the ladies' room and Jipyeong stopped himself a few meters away. He took that time to mentally slap himself. _Repeatedly_.

He seriously needed to get a grip on himself. What the hell was he doing? He literally just told himself that he was going to let Injae be but here he was, acting like her shadow or something. 

Jipyeong shook his head as he turned the other way but that was when he saw Alex walking his way.

“Mr. Han!” The westernized asian brightly waved at his co-mentor, approaching his direction, “Just the man I was looking for.”

Jipyeong raised a brow, “What’s the matter, Mr. Kwon?”

“I just wanted to ask you about what you know about Morning Group.” Alex nonchalantly placed his query.

“Why Morning Group?” He brought his hand to caress his neck, “What about them?”

The Silicon Valley veteran pursed his lips to a subtle curious grin, “I just can’t wrap my head around why Nature Morning’s CEO is here... Are they trying to venture out into new waters of some sort?”

“Well, I’m not so sure about that...”

“Are the applicants aware of the mentors beforehand?”

“No, they’re not. The mentors aren’t really publicized during the application period. In fact, the mentors aren't really an important part of the application process. Why?”

Alex folded his arms on his chest as he silently hummed, deep in thought.

“Mr. Kwon, do you really think CEO Won is here for one of the mentors?” Jipyeong asked with a half-hearted laugh, thinking it was rather ridiculous for him to think so.

Alex scratched the back of his head, still lost.

Jipyeong was about to invite him back into the auditorium with him to clear his head but that was when his peripheral vision sensed an all-too-familiar silhouette of a woman come out of the ladies’ washroom, frozen, unmoving. He didn’t need to see her face to know who it was.

This was what he was trying to avoid... another awkward encounter with her.

He swallowed hard before hesitantly looking at her with a look of a man who didn’t know how to react to what was happening. Although, he didn’t expect to read an anxious look on her face. He was anticipating more of an annoyed and frustrated response from her.

Meanwhile, Injae stayed glued to the spot she was standing on. Her breath hitched at seeing _him_ again. She really wanted to curse out to which ever deity decided to emotionally torture her today.

“Mr. Kwon, I didn’t know you’d be here.” She approached the two men with a professional tone in her voice.

Alex saw her and smiled while Jipyeong was the one who wasn’t following with what was going on this time around now... 

“Ms. Won.” The 2STO envoy nodded in her direction, “It’s always a pleasure to see you. How have you been?”

“I’m doing fine, thank you.” She replied.

He hid a small chuckle as he went on, suddenly dropping the formalities, “Why are you here?”

Jipyeong was ready to intervene to help Injae avoid this topic but she seemed to be okay to discuss it.

“I’m trying something new for a change.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that...” Alex gave her a soft look, “Good luck, Ms. Won. I’m rooting for you. I’ll go on ahead.”

He gave the woman one last smile before really leaving the scene.

Injae sighed as Jipyeong looked at her, questioningly. When she turned to face the man she’s been unfortunately linked to for the past few weeks, her eyes darted up and down his body, noticing his change of outfit.

“Costume change already?” She feigned an unimpressed face, masking her true sentiments of thinking he looked good in the casual get-up.

“Yeah, so what?” Jipyeong cleared his throat and stood tall, regaining his composure, “How do you know Mr. Kwon?”

Injae scoffed, looking at him with a blank expression, "I just do.”

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She turned to him with impatience, "Mr. Han, I'm afraid I don't have the luxury of time to let you in on my personal life. If you'll excuse me, I have a hackathon to win. We could discuss this some other time.”

”Oh yeah, I heard about your healthcare artificial intelligence project by the way.” He chimed, making her curiously eye him, ruining her plan on walking out on him at that perfect moment.

She brought her hands to her hips as she asked straightforwardly, “And what do you think of it, Mr. Han?”

He furrowed his brows at her mockingly, “You’re asking _me_?”

”I’m asking the Senior Manager of SH Venture Capital, yes.” She replied. “Why, is there a reason I shouldn’t ask you?”

He smirked, “I can consider this a form abuse of connections, CEO Won. I’m a mentor of this fine institution and my unsolicited advice is an exclusive perk of those who get into Sandbox. Now, if I give you my thoughts on your hackathon pitch... won’t that be cheating?”

He was clearly teasing but she wasn’t having any of it as she wasn’t playing around.

Injae rolled her eyes, “Forget I asked then.”

She was about to set off and that made Jipyeong finally gave in, not wanting her to leave just yet.

”It’s a gamble.” He admitted.

The woman stopped in her tracks and turned her head in his direction, “Why would it be a gamble?”

”The idea is good. You have the ‘what’ and the ‘why,’ I presume. However, it’s the ‘how’ I’m a bit skeptical about.” Jipyeong said, “Your developers only have forty-eight hours to execute that AI program that hopefully, and at the very least, meets our standards. Might I also point out that you might be lacking on manpower.”

She ran her hand through her hair and folded her arms on her chest, “I don’t have doubts with my team.”

”Are you sure about that?”

”I trust my gut.” She replied casually, “I take pride in my knack at discernment, Mr. Han. I see people and at the same time, I see what they can offer me. I waste no time in using their competencies to benefit myself and so far, that natural talent of mine hasn’t failed me yet.”

Jipyeong clicked his tongue and shook his head, “Why do I feel like I’m one of those successful attempts at proving those discernment skills?”

She grinned mischievously, “Most probably because you are.”

He eyed her with an implausible look on his face as he huffed in response, at a loss for words.

”I really need to get going now. Thanks for the short chat, though.”

With that, she walked away as well, leaving Jipyeong alone with his thoughts.

The dreadful churning in his chest came back along with a new stimulating sensation swirling in his gut. Was this how it felt like to be helplessly caught in someone’s game?

He shrugged it off and scowled. It didn’t matter. He just really wasn’t being himself today... he was being way too concerned about a lot of things. All he should focus on now is how he’ll get through the next 48 hours without getting swayed by that woman again. He needed to regain the image he’s set himself up to be.

“What am I even doing anymore...” He grumbled to himself, “Geez, this is nuts.”


	5. Done Deal.

“Ms. Jung, may I see how the presentation is going?” Injae peaked at her designer’s laptop to get a gist of how she should arrange her pitch, “Is there anything I need to take note of?”

The Sandbox hackathon would commence in less than five hours and everyone was on-edge; fixing the bugs in their programs, practicing their speeches, and calming down their restless nerves. The past forty-three hours went by in a blink of an eye but thankfully, Injae and her newly found colleagues were able to get a lot of things done within that time. However, with the limited time they had left, they knew they had to work faster and harder to meet the deadline and still exceed expectations.

”I’m almost done, Ms. Won. So far, the only changes I’ve made are for the transitions for slides twelve ad thirteen but you’ve made your corrections for that part already.” Saha replied as her eyes did not leave the screen in front of her, scrolling through the powerpoint that she was working on.

Injae nodded as she took note of what she said, “The notes you’ve given me for the legal developmental strategies are final, right? Or will you have anything to add?”

Another perk of having Jung Saha part of her team was having both a graphic designer _and_ a legal strategist bundled up in one glamorous woman. A whole package deal.

”Those are final, Ms. Won.” She responded with a small but assuring smile.

Injae returned the confident look as she turned to her programmers for a status update on their AI: the true star of the show, “How’s the optimization going?”

”The x-ray and biomedical information sets that were given by Sandbox were a bit complex to work with but we’re getting there.” Chulsan informed the CEO.

”We have the program running. We just have to fix the bugs and maybe fix something with our algorithm... It doesn’t detect all the bone deformations just yet.” Yongsan added as he continued to type away on his keyboard.

”We have five hours left to work on this. I don’t want to put pressure on any of you but I hope you’re all aware of the time constraint we’re under on.” Injae said, “We’re doing great so far. We just can’t afford to lose our momentum right now.”

The team responded with thumbs up and little hums of affirmation and that cued Injae to go back to writing her pitch.

Meanwhile, up in the third floor of the Sandbox building, was Senior Manager Han Jipyeong, sitting at his desk in the SH Venture Capital Office—alone. He was going over some emails regarding potential investments but the thing was, he already did this. _Last week_.

Yes, he was just trying to keep himself busy. Yes, he had nothing better to do. Yes, he thought that isolating himself from everyone else like this was the best way to go.

He was sure that being down there would be not much help to both him and Injae.

Although, he did tell himself that he would head back down for the actual hackathon. He looked to his side and stared at the neatly pressed Mentor shirt dangling from the clothes hanger that was by the bookshelf. He still had to change into that later on, he almost forgot.

He stood up from his seat and decided to fix himself a cup of coffee. He headed to the nearby conference room and tinkered with the espresso machine and patiently waited for his daily dose of caffeine to be prepared.

In his wait, he couldn’t help but think of how Injae was doing with her high-flying idea. He hasn’t seen or heard from her since the time they parted ways in front of the ladies’ room within the first few hours of the event.

As much as he was skeptical about it, he didn’t wish for them to fail.

He was back in touch with his venture capitalist instincts and he was just realistically putting the situation as it was.

There was only one possible outcome from the two extremities to the program they sought to make: success or fail. With the industry they were making the AI for, it was only right that they make sure it would be as accurate and precise as possible. Home AIs can afford to make small blunders like misinterpreting the commands given by the homeowners (his own experiences with Yeongsil can vouch for that), but not healthcare AIs. Healthcare AIs have the lives of patients hanging in its balance.

Even if the AI they were working on had the main function of only detecting diseases and not actually treating them, a small blunder can still lead to a misdiagnosis that can branch out to many more problems varying from lawsuits to even death.

With roughly four and a half hours left until the presentations start, Jipyeong couldn’t help but wonder how much progress they’ve been able to make and if they even got close to what they were aiming for.

”Ah, Mr. Han, there you are.” Ms. Yoon entered the room, feeling delightedly lucky to have found SH Venture Capital’s own hermit crab, “I was wondering where you went off to hide this time.”

Jipyeong turned to the door where his boss was standing as he expressed his apologies, “Good morning, Ms. Yoon. Sorry, I wasn’t hiding, ma’am... I was just finishing something up.”

”The hackathon will end in a few hours. The presentations will start right after. I hope to see you in the crowd, Mr. Han.”

”I’ll be there, Ms. Yoon.” He reassured her, “Have the judges arrived yet?”

”Some of them, yes... but we aren’t really expecting them until later.” She replied, “Do you know who the main judges are?”

”I’m afraid I’m not aware with the panel, Ms. Yoon...”

”Well, with myself included, there’d be five. There’d be representatives from Shinhan Bank, Yulje Medical Center, 2STO, and Morning Group.” Ms. Yoon informed him of the line-up of judges that they’d be entertaining in a while, “I’m sure you’re familiar Mr. Alex Kwon?”

”He’s one of the judges?” Jipyeong asked, surprised.

”Yes, and you are too, Mr. Han. However, you’ll only be participating with the decision in the private deliberation after the event—oh and Chairman Won Dujeong will be in attendance as well, I almost forgot to mention.”

The 183 cm man felt uneasy at the mention of Morning Group’s chairman... it was as if he was worried for someone else regarding it.

”You seem thrown off?” Ms. Yoon pointed out the stressed look on his face.

”Ah, no, it’s not that.” He covered it up with a laugh, “I was just reminded that Chairman Won’s step-daughter is one of the participants.”

”I’m aware of Ms. Won Injae’s application.” She smiled, “Speaking of applications... May I ask if the company that interested you got into this final stretch?”

”They have, Ms. Yoon. I’m silently rooting for them.” Jipyeong responded with a proud look on his face, “I have a good feeling about them.”

”Well, your hunches were never wrong, Mr. Han.” The grey-haired woman gave him a confident grin, “Let’s just see how everything pans out.”

“That we shall.”

“Alright, anyway, I’ll leave you to it. I just stopped by to remind you of your required attendance later for the presentations.” Ms. Yoon said, “We’ll release the results within the day so you’ll have enough time to set your expectations.”

They bid each other goodbye as the Sandbox Director left her trusted right-hand man in the conference room. His coffee had just been prepared and he picked it up to take a quick sip before falling into another trance, wondering what else could he do now... He’s been staring at fluctuating stock market ratings, business proposals, and at his own shadows for the past few hours already.

It wasn’t like he was going to get any peace of mind by forcing himself to be productive.

The man had really no idea why he was distancing himself from that one particular person—and he _hated_ that he knew he was doing all this just to distance himself from that one particular person in the first place... He was acting like some moody teenager at that point.

Maybe it was just the thought that he’s realized she knew how to bite back at him in the most subtle and classiest of ways. There was nothing really special about whatever she’s said so far, though. It was just the way she carried herself so regally, leaving a trail of her enticing aura behind for those in her wake to be captivated not just by her beauty and grace, but by her wit and poise.

He’s always been used to being the one with the snarky and domineering attitude... so realizing that there was actually someone out there who could match his cockiness was a lot for him to handle.

Not to mention that the laid night they shared two weeks ago was still branded into his mind like the searing touches they left everywhere on each other’s skin.

Everything just started to snowball out of proportion starting from that night. It's turned into an avalanche ready to consume him if he doesn’t start running away to at least give him that fighting chance.

And so, he knew what he had to do to avoid that mean frostbite.

He finished his black coffee and headed out to get his shirt off its hanger. He decided to throw all caution into the wind. What was wrong with being heavily invested and concerned about Injae Company anyway? He was genuinely interested in their idea, minus the inkling of doubt he had in it... perhaps, their CEO was just some kind of collateral for him to stay riveted in their affairs.

**────────────────**

Jipyeong made his way downstairs to check on the situation on the hackathon participants. He’s noticed a few teams packing up their stuff meaning that they’ve finished already, while some teams seemed to be still working, looking really stressedas they probably knew that there were only less than four hours left to finalize their technology and their pitches.

In the brief time he spent roaming the room, he spotted Injae and her team as one of those who were able to finish already. Her developers were packing up their equipment, and she was seen discussing something with another woman. Jipyeong stared at her, thinking about how effortlessly good she looked while stressing over her pitch... that and most probably, she hasn’t had a full eight hours of sleep yet.

Jipyeong dug his hands in his pockets just as Alex Kwon came to his side and put a hand on his shoulder as a greeting.

“Mr. Han, I see you’ve set your eyes on a particular company already, huh...” He said with a chuckle.

Jipyeong looked at him as he recollected himself, startled by the man’s sudden presence.

“Pardon?” He cleared his throat.

Alex repeated himself but more clearly, “You’re interested in Injae Company, are you not?”

“You could say that... but I still have my suspicions.” Jipyeong replied honestly, “Their technological impetus seems far fetched.”

“Well, I know for a fact that she’s in good hands. The programmers she was able to bag are from Sansan Tech. They recently won first place at CODA. I came back to be a mentor just to have a chance to meet them... " Alex said, "Them being on her team only reeled me in more."

"You're interested in Injae Company too, Mr. Kwon?"

He nodded with a smile, "But no pressure though. It's all up to the CEO who she wants to choose to be her company's mentor anyway. Granted that they get into Sandbox in the first place."

"That's true... but I honestly think they'll get in." Jipyeong gave his thoughts, "What do you think?"

“As a judge? I’m not so sure yet. However, with those talented developers and that woman leading them?" He laughed as if the answer was already obvious, "I'm going all-in with my bet."

Jipyeong knew right off the bat that he'd be competing with Alex to be Injae Company's mentor but hearing him admit to it, finally setting off that starting gun shot in this race, made him feel the pressure all the more now.

He smiled it off and hummed in agreement.

”This was a refreshing talk, Mr. Han.” Alex pat his back, “Alright, I need to get going. I want to keep scavenging in case I find more diamonds in the mud. Hope to see you later at the presentations.”

Jipyeong watched as he confidently walked off.

He looked down at his watch and found out that there were still roughly three and a half hours left. He dug his hands in his pockets and bit the inside of his cheek, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, Ms. Yoon entered the room, in a rush to find him again. When she spotted him looking like the grumpy cat he was always known to be, standing in the far corner of the auditorium, she sighed in relief and wasted no time in going over to him.

”Mr. Han, I’m glad I found you again.” She approached him with a smile, “The Yulje Medical Center and Shinhan Bank representatives are here and I was wondering if you could entertain them for me. I have to sort something out with the tech department for later’s presentations.”

“Of course, Ms. Yoon. Where might I find them?”

He was thankful that the opportunity to distract himself fell right into his hands this time. Perhaps the universe finally took pity on him...

“They’re at the lobby.” She replied, “Thank you again, Mr. Han. I’d ask Mr. Park but he’s busy overseeing the program flow right now.”

”No problem at all, ma’am. I’ll get right to it.”

Jipyeong then left to meet Sandbox’s honorary guests. It was just a professional encounter consisting of boring business talk and shallow greetings but Jipyeong was used to this anyway. Entertaining two old men and their entourage of secretaries and bodyguards was not something he would usually do, but it was nothing new for him either.

And luckily for him, that measly task took a few hours of his time. When he had finished finally leading the representatives to their judges’ table, the participants were already on their final rounds of practice with their speeches. That was some kind of unseen cue for him to go backstage to maybe catch a glimpse of the team he was silently rooting for.

He casually made his way to the waiting room behind the stage and there he found the aspiring CEOs practicing their companies’ pitches.

Or more appropriately, there he found the nervous wrecks mumbling and stuttering to themselves whilst reading off the pages they were shakily holding in their hands.

It was a funny sight to see indeed. Seeing a bunch of people wearing red polyester shirts fighting off the urge to puke out of nervousness.

When his eyes scanned the room, it didn’t even take him five seconds to pinpoint the person he was looking for as she was probably the only one looking like she had her shit together in that room. That, and he noticed that Alex was there speaking to her... all smiles and longing gazes.

Seeing him with her only deepened his curiosity as to how exactly they knew each other.

Why did Jipyeong suddenly have some irking feeling mercilessly knock at the walls of his brain telling him to panic.

Alex Kwon was a global figure. He knew that much. Yet, that single detail made Jipyeong feel small... Inferior almost.

When the 2STO rep finally left her side to probably attend to his hackathon judge duties, Jipyeong sucked in a sharp breath as he took the first few steps to approach her.

Injae was going over her speech calmly again but that was when she sensed someone coming over to her. She clicked her tongue in vexation before looking at who it was that was on their way to chat her up again. She needed to focus but it seemed like the universe wasn’t letting her do so. Seeing Alex was a bit much for her to take in already.

Won Injae was _never_ religious... but at that moment, she desperately prayed that it wasn't—

“Mr. Han.” Those two words escaped her lips so tiredly as she had just turned her head to get a clear view of the man with that painfully handsome face, “What do you want now?”

"Ms. Won." Han Jipyeong's silky smooth and deep voice rung through her ears, “I just wanted to wish you good luck.”

“You just did and so, thank you. You can go now.”

“You have to stop pretending you hate me. We don’t even know each other that well.” Jipyeong snorted.

She rolled her eyes at him, “I don’t hate you. I never said I did. I just can’t deal with you right now.”

“I hate to break it to you but if getting into Sandbox is your goal, then you’d have to get used to seeing my cute little face at any time of the day whether you like it or not.”

“Why are you here, really?” Her patience was running thin. She needed to practice more of her pitch.

“Maybe I just genuinely wanted to see how you’re holding up. Has that thought ever crossed your mind?” He teasingly smirked.

She deadpanned, “No, it hasn’t. Mainly because whenever you try to talk to me, you always have something to say to throw me off.”

“Well, you’re not wrong...” He mumbled to himself.

She sighed in irritation, “So, it’s true? You have something to say to throw me off?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way.” He was quick to defend himself, “But unfortunately, yes. I come bearing not-so-splendid news.”

“And that is?”

He cleared his throat as he replaced the sarcasm on his face with seriousness and concern, “I just wanted to give you a heads up. Your step-father would be in the audience. He’s one of the judges. I just thought you should know.”

Injae’s face fell and momentarily froze, heeding his warning.

Jipyeong saw this reaction and in an instant, he tried to lighten the mood.

“If you plan on mimicking some ice sculpture on the stage later like what you’re doing right now, I’ll be in the far left corner of the room if you need me.”

“And what do you expect me to do with that information?” She snapped.

He dryly chuckled, “Might as well look at something pleasing to calm your nerves.”

“You’re _pleasing_?” She was in a state of disbelief, seeing how much more narcissistic the man could get.

“Well, I don’t think your step-father is.”

He wasn’t wrong anyway.

“I’ll just look at something else, thank you.” She glowered.

Jipyeong smiled, “Whatever floats your boat then.”

Injae ran her hand through her hair as she was too caught up in her jumbled up thoughts to bite back at him.

“Have you drew lots already?” He asked, “What time will you present?”

Of course, another reminder of her unending suffering... “I’m last to present my pitch.”

Jipyeong formed an ‘o’ with his lips as he let out a soft whistle, having it sound like a bomb that was just dropped from the sky.

“Way to prolong the agony, huh...”

She clenched her fists and her jaw, “Don’t need to rub it in.”

It was always known in presentations that no one ever forgets the first and last presenters as they are supposed to be the ones that the audience pays attention to the most. Injae was aware of this fact but never really worried about it until now. 

"For what's it's worth, I think you'll do great nonetheless." Jipyeong said so nonchalantly, "So, no pressure."

She gave him a blank stare and looked down at the ground, to her feet, "Thank you."

"See you later." He gave out a small smile but it was enough for his dimples to show.

She nodded in response and he left, letting Injae have a dashing view of his broad back and the way the black shirt he was wearing perfectly hugged his figure. She took that brief moment to bask in her nerves. It was just her step-father anyway. She was going to let her rage take over and give her that extra push to do even better than she originally intended to.

Flash forward to thirty minutes later and the hackathon pitch presentations have started. Jipyeong was standing in the crowd, in the far left corner just as she told Injae earlier while she was calmly collecting herself backstage. There were three men in the audience out there. One she slept with, one she has a complicated history with, and one she grew to hate more and more as the days passed. Two of them have shown support and one of them is obviously trying to leash her back to him.

And she knew better than to give into the latter.

As the presentations progressed and her turn to step on that stage drew near, she was no longer nervous or scared. She was filled with adrenaline and that childish excitement. She had faith in her team's efforts and the idea they all came up with. She wanted to rub it in her step-father's face that she can achieve all that she's achieved in the past four years again even without his help. 

So when her company name was called next and an usher came to her to lead her to the side of the stage, she put her game face on.

”Next up to present: CEO Won Injae of Injae Company.” The emcee introduced her as she climbed up the stage, having those blinding lights hit the contours of her face so elegantly.

She turned to face her audience and the first thing that caught her eye was the judges’ table where five people were seated. There she spotted Director Yoon, Alex, and the old man that caused her to hesitate on stage.

Her step-father smiled smugly and she felt her heart drop.

In that millisecond as she started to feel like she was beginning to freeze up again against her own will, the only thing that her mind was telling her to do was to look at the far left corner of the room... In that moment, she forgot who or what she was looking for but once her eyes fell on the familiar, fine face of a man, she felt like she could breathe again.

Jipyeong was pleasantly surprised to see that she actually searched for him amongst the crowd. He raised his brows in amusement, smirked, and raised a thumbs up at her, mouthing the words of good luck to help her regain the little bit of confidence she had just momentarily lost.

Then he sent over a cheeky wink to top it all off.

Injae tried her best to hide the smile that crept up on her lips as she was then ready to astound her audience with both her charisma and the innovative technology her team has been able to work on in the last forty-eight hours.

And that she did. So immaculately.

Her words flowed out so effortlessly and enticingly, captivating the crowd with both the facts and rainbows she perfectly balanced in her speech. She explained her company’s artificial intelligence simply but was able to emphasize its groundbreaking features... and the eye-catching digital presentation being flashed on the screen behind her only added to her seamless address.

Even Chulsan and Yongsan, who were seated in the crowd, didn’t expect that their technology could have been talked about the way their CEO was doing.

Jipyeong couldn’t stop the big smirk from forming on his lips as he continued to listen to every word she said. Here he was, thinking that seeing her step-father as part of her audience would throw her off her game... only to find out it only made her play harder than before.

He was impressed as much as he was turned on by her confidence.

When Injae gave out the statistics and informed everyone that the healthcare AI they made had a 95.23% accuracy rate at detecting the early onset bone deformations and diseases, the crowd simultaneously gasped in awe. 

Even Alex wasn’t expecting their AI to be _that_ good given the limitations to their preparation.

CEO Won started on a good note and ended with a flourishing finish. There was no doubt about their acceptance into the Sandbox program now. As the crowd applauded and the judges started grading, Injae let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in from the beginning of her pitch.

She felt relieved.

But she also felt empty... and she didn’t know exactly why.

She bowed in front of the crowd just before she got off the stage and the first three people she saw waiting for her were her team.

Saha, Chulsan, and Yongsan. The smiles on their faces couldn’t have been more proud and wide. Injae was just simply expecting a few handshakes and a round of expressions of gratitude, so she was utterly taken aback when the three pulled her in for a group hug.

”You did so well, CEO Won!” Chulsan sounded like he was about to cry.

”Thank you, but we _all_ did well.” Injae warmly corrected him.

”We’re getting into Sandbox. I’m calling it.” Saha confidently announced.

They took that time to congratulate one another for each of their contributions in making their hackathon pitch a success. Especially the developers who made that miraculous AI program in under two days.

As the emcee came back on stage to say the closing remarks and announced the wait time everyone had to go through to know the results, the group of four continued to excitedly chat quietly.

However, in the middle of their frenzied conversation, Chulsan saw a man coming their way with a smile. It seemed like he was going to congratulate them.

“Isn’t that guy from SH Venture Capital?” He asked, “I think he’s coming this way.”

Injae felt her heart race, hearing his words. She was truly impressed with Mr. Han and his persistence... And so she turned around with a smile on her face, ready to go on with their usual banter.

Only to be faced with a giddy looking man with glasses, wearing a blue ‘staff’ shirt.

”Oh, hello.” Injae wasn’t able to register her disappointment at not seeing who she expected to see until seconds later.

”Hello, CEO Won.” He grinned warmly, “I’m Park Dongcheon of SH Venture Capital. It’s so nice to meet you. I just wanted to say that your presentation was phenomenal. I’d like to give you and your company my regards.”

Injae returned the smile and shook his hand, “Thank you, Mr. Park.”

He then went on to greet and congratulate the rest of her team as if they had already got into Sandbox. She let them take the spotlight as she knew she wouldn’t have been able to deliver such a pitch without their efforts anyway. She excused herself from the group as she went off back to the auditorium where she found most of the crowd gone from their seats.

People were still exiting the hall while some stayed to chat. As she roamed the room, searching for a particular person as subtle as ever, someone tapped her back.

She got her hopes up again, thinking it was him but only to find out it was just another man she didn’t know.

”Are you the CEO of Injae Company? The one with the healthcare AI?” The man asked.

She nodded, “Yes, I am. How may I help you, sir?”

”Ah, that’s great. I’m from Yulje Medical Center.” The man introduced himself and gave a bow, “We’re greatly interested in your project. We’d like to stay in touch with you regarding our partnership if you would accept it.”

He handed out his business card for her to take.

Injae was speechless. She didn’t expect anything like this from today. She beamed at the opportunity and smiled from ear to ear, “This is such an honor. On behalf of my company, I’d love to offer you our service.”

She took the card from his hand and shook it, bowing in gratitude.

”We’re looking forward to working with you, CEO Won.” The man said, “You’re technology is impressive.”

”Thank you, sir.”

They bid each other goodbye as Injae was left to marvel at the small piece of card she held in her hands. She needed to tell her team about this immediately. What was she doing looking for Mr. Han anyway?

And so, she headed back to where she left her three musketeers, excited to tell them the good news.

Concurrently, since the hackathon presentations had ended, Han Jipyeong was eager to find Injae again to tell her about the good job she did—and maybe even shamelessly flirt with her again to get on her nerves. However, just as he was on his way to the backstage, Ms. Yoon had called his attention as the deliberations were about to begin.

He had to hold that thought until later he supposed.

Jipyeong and Injae were preoccupied with their own engagements. While she was busy celebrating their first instant gig with her team, he was busy discussing the final list of chosen companies to join the Sandbox community with the panel. 

She was starting to relax her mind as she knew the hard part was over. All she had to do now was wait.

While he was trying his best to block out the bias he had for one particular team while giving his thoughts on the applicants.

Just because Jipyeong was already on-board with a company didn't mean he had no reason to pay attention to the other presentations that preceded them. Yes, he had his eye set on Injae Company but he had to have a neutral over-all opinion on the whole process. He had to be fair and take into account the strengths of the other companies as well. 

But in spite of that, he knew that his sentiments about Injae Company were shared by the other people in the room with him which was kind of a done deal for them. He stayed quiet on his predisposition but Alex was brazen enough to speak up on his partiality to the company... and funnily enough, Jipyeong was able to notice how Chairman Won said nothing on the topic and just let a complacent smile appear on his lips.

The deliberation took about two hours and within those two hours, Injae was just downstairs, sitting down at one of the many tables in the Sandbox cafeteria, all alone. The other three had gone home one by one earlier already and the remaining Injae Company member at Sandbox was the CEO herself. 

Of course, on the outside she may have seemed lonely but in reality, she was on her phone, interacting in the new group chat that was just made a few minutes ago by Chulsan. They were rambling about how nervous they were to know the results that even Saha admitted she felt like puking. They spent the past forty-eight hours in each other's company and they were able to establish a friendly connection with each other in that duration. Injae however, was mostly just reading through the chat. Rarely sending any reactions to any of the messages, not knowing how to keep up with their chaotic energy.

However, being out of place like this was nothing new to her. She was the type of person to just go with the flow, never having the time to settle down and be complacent with anything.

Seeing her step-father in the audience earlier only solidified that mindset of hers...

Ever since a young age, she had never had anything constant. She was used to having everything taken away from her; her family, her friends, her wealth, her name, her job, her happiness... She had clung onto people to survive but she never once learned her lesson, always having those same people badly hurt her in the end.

Was it her fault for being too trusting? Or has she always known that everything was temporary... but still chose to turn a blind eye to that reality because she was scared— _scared of being left with nothing._

Being the step-daughter of a chairman had its perks... until the repercussions started to show, terribly late in the game.

She thought she could take it at first: the stigma and the unwanted restraint. She was fully aware of the reputation her mother garnered for herself for marrying her step-father. She was aware that people looked down on her for being a gold digger and Injae didn’t want to be pegged the same.

So she worked. Hard. Relentlessly. Dedicatedly.

She wanted to prove to everyone that she belonged to where she was, but she knew how that went... Maybe it was her fault that she thought she could truly belong anywhere at all. 

So here she was, turning over a new leaf—but the ghosts of her past keep haunting her. If it weren’t her figurative and literal mistakes, it was the human embodiment of the reminder that if she made a single misstep, she’d be leashed up again in that suffocating and incompatible world she was chained to for the past fifteen years.

Her step-father’s presence was that reminder that no matter how far she would run away, he would always be there to jog her memory that she was nothing but a disposable pawn.

Injae hated feeling like this... feeling like she actually had to rethink her self-worth just because of that smug and conniving old man. She wanted to prove to him that she could still go places even without his help.

She knew that he went through all this trouble to follow her to Sandbox just because he wanted to put her back in her place.

Injae sighed frustratedly, not knowing why she was emotionally torturing herself when she should be celebrating. She did a good job in the hackathon presentation and even got a gig right after—which was a big deal in itself as it was Yulje that approached her.

Seeing her step-father really just ruined her day.

She needed to appease herself and the only quick fix she could think of was heading home and getting drunk all by herself, hoping that momentarily drowning out her problems would help her feel a bit better.

What brought her back to reality from falling any further into her self-depreciative spiral though was the sudden message she got from her sister, asking her if it was really her that she saw on TV... Injae furrowed her brows. She was confused at first but then she remembered that the Sandbox hackathon was broadcasted all over South Korea— and that was also when Injae realized that she totally forgot to inform Dalmi that she was going to apply for Sandbox.

Before she could start typing her reply to Dalmi, someone suddenly took the seat in front of her, making her slightly jump in hers.

"Oops, sorry." Han Jipyeong chuckled at her dismay, "Did I startle you?"

For once, Injae didn’t scowl at seeing him... but she did, however, quip back at him with her snarky attitude as always.

“And where have you been? It’s like you disappeared after the hackathon.”

He smirked and leaned into the table with his elbows, “So, you’ve been looking for me?”

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, “I really do wonder how the hell you fit that head into your shirts.”

“That’s why I prefer suits and button ups.” He glanced down at his black mentor shirt then back up at her, smiling so cheekily.

She cocked a brow, “Are you here to throw me off again?”

He looked at her and his face changed. He straightened his back, cleared his throat, and clasped his hands on the table in front of him. This sudden change in his composure alarmed Injae. He had a stern look painted on his striking face...

“What is it?” She asked again, this time with more concern laced in her tone.

“About that... I just came back from the deliberation and we’ve made our decisions already.” Jipyeong bit his lip, looking down at his watch to read 3:59 PM, “The results aren’t out yet but I just wanted to give you another heads up.”

She furrowed her brows, perplexed and anxious about where this was going.

“Let me apologize in advance, Ms. Won.” He carefully said.

Injae was starting to panic, “For what?”

“I’m afraid you’ll be seeing my face a lot more often from now on.” He cracked a small smile, not being able to play along with the charade he wanted to pull.

But she didn’t seem to catch on to his drift just yet.

“What do you mean?” She asked again with more worry.

He chuckled lightly at her confusion as he then saw that the clock had just struck 4:00 PM. The results were supposedly just released and he had proof to back him up now.

He searched the lobby for a monitor and when he did, he confirmed his thought as it had the logos of the companies that made it into the 12th residency program of Sandbox.

He said nothing next and simply just pointed at the television displaying the results of the hackathon. Injae looked and her eyes went wide with surprise.

“Congratulations, CEO Won. You start first thing tomorrow.” Jipyeong leaned back into his seat as he marveled at the woman’s stupefaction.

“My company got into Sandbox?” She was still in a state of bewilderment.

Jipyeong nodded with another beguiling laugh, “Yes. You’re in.”

He expected an out-of-the-blue outburst of joy from her but all he got was her sighing in relief and resting her forehead on the table... looking like a drunk person with her letting out little groans.

“Ms. Won... are you alright? You don’t seem too happy.” Jipyeong was baffled by her unusual reaction.

“I just had a lot to take in today.” She mumbled, "But I’m just relieved. I feel like I can really breathe again..."

"You sure about that?" He let out a sigh of his own and mused, “You're okay with seeing me almost everyday and with being my junior?"

Her head shot up from the table and stared at him blankly, "I mean... we both can leave what's in the past in the past, right?"

"You mean...?"

Injae cleared her throat and pursed her lips to a line, "You _know_ what I mean. I don't need to spell it out for you."

Jipyeong laughed, "Ah, you mean you want to forget that we ever had sex. Is that what you want?"

"We don't have to forget it per se. More like plain disregard for what happened." She said, "No one knows about it besides us anyway."

"Honestly speaking, I do think that we could've been good friends if it weren't for the awkward fact that we slept together out of weakness that night." He admitted it to himself, "So, sure. Let's start over, shall we? Let's try to be friends."

"You want to be _friends_?" Injae retorted.

Jipyeong rested his chin on his knuckles, "What's stopping us?"

She gave him a contemplative stare as she momentarily looked away from him. What else was there to do besides starting over? It was either that or continuing to pretend that they didn't know each other... which was nearly impossible to do at that point. They also had to admit that when they first met each other, they were emotionally compromised and were too intoxicated for their own good. They literally got off the wrong and hazy foot.

”Friends it is.” She shrugged it off as if it were no big deal.

Jipyeong smirked, “Alright, since that’s out of the way... I want to ask you something.”

”Go ahead, Mr. Han.”

”What exactly is your relationship with Mr. Kwon of 2STO?” He asked, rather directly.

She chuckled and raised a brow at him, “Why are you curious about that?”

“I just find it kind of odd that he had no concept of impartiality when he was vouching for your company earlier during the deliberation. That, and the many other instances that led me to believe you weren’t just past business partners.”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek, debating with herself if she should just be honest about it or not... but she realized that it shouldn’t matter anyway.

”We were an item once upon a time.” She offhandedly replied, “We met through work. Dated for around three months and broke up mutually on the grounds of not having enough time and patience to delve into what we had.”

Her response felt like some kind of emotional jab at Jipyeong and he didn’t know exactly why... but he was able to cover it up with one of his retorts.

”So... you mean to tell me... that you’ve scored big with not just one, but _two_ of the Sandbox mentors?” He couldn’t help but laugh in amusement.

She let an unaffected and proud smirk find its way on her red lips, “How was I supposed to know that you two would be here?”

”Sorry, my bad then.” He said, “I'm just curious on how you’re gonna choose your mentor now... given your relationships with us.”

”Ah, yes... the ex-boyfriend, the one night stand, and the evil step-father. The universe somehow conspired to punish me up until now.” She slyly commented, “But don’t worry. I’ve made up my mind on who I want to be my company’s mentor already.”

“Really? Who?” He asked with overwhelming curiosity.

She shook her head, “You’ll have to wait until the day I get to choose, Mr. Han.”

Injae felt like she had the ball in her court and she was eager to dribble circles around him before shooting that three-pointer.

Whereas Jipyeong was starting to feel his throat tighten... he’s been worrying about this for quite some time already.

She read the expression on his face and tilted her head in amusement, “Don’t tell me you’ve been expecting me to choose you.”

”I didn’t say anything.”

”But your face is giving it all away, pretty boy.” She laughed at him.

He stayed silent, not knowing how to counter that.

"You know what, I think I can piece everything together now..." She smiled in accomplishment and realization, "The charity gig your company was urging you to take was the mentor position, wasn't it? You were so against it, though, as I recall... but seeing you here meant that something was able to change your mind. Now correct me if I'm wrong but I think you've been keeping an eye on my company and I ever since the beginning because you're interested in me."

Han Jipyeong was at a loss for words, hearing her expertly lay out his cards like that. He took a few moments to recollect himself and be as transparent as he can be. His thoughts became fuzzy but he wanted to clap back as soon as possible... but he overdid it.

”So what if I am?” He blurted out.

Even Injae was taken aback, ”What?”

”I mean... Interested in a sense that I'm interested in your capabilities and talents as a veteran CEO." He was quick to save himself from embarrassing himself even more, "It's what we venture capitalists tend to value the most. Leadership skills.”

Injae hid a chuckle behind the charming smile that adorned her lips, "I have to say, it's pretty cute how desperate you are to save face, but I'll just have you know that I don't have the time to emotionally invest myself into anything or anyone right now besides my work."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that because I feel the same way."

"Good." She was glad they came to a consensus, "Because I already have a lot on my plate."

"Yeah, I could see that." He gave her a knowing look.

Injae tapped her fingers against the table in between them and heaved a sigh, "Alright... I'll inform my team of the good news and I'll head on home."

"You're leaving already?"

She cocked a brow in naive curiosity, "Yes. Why? You don't want me to go yet?"

"No, I actually don't." He boyishly admitted, "Your company is somewhat refreshing to me."

"And what made you think that?"

He opened his mouth to say something but he couldn't find a proper response to her question, "I'm still trying to figure that out myself."

”Well, come back to me on that when you figure it out.” She said as she stood from her seat, ready to leave.

“I don’t know how to contact you. How am I supposed to come back to you on it?” He insinuatingly smirked

”Are you asking for my number now?” She instantly knew what he was trying to do.

”Maybe I am.”

She gave him a furrowed and deciphering stare, “The mixed signals you’re giving me are really starting to confuse me now, you know that?”

He softly chuckled and stood up as well, towering over her, “Ms. Won, I’ll be one of your higher-ups the moment you step back into this building tomorrow. I’m bound to ask for your number in the future for work purposes anyway.”

Alright, Injae admitted he had a point there.

She shrugged and held out her hand, “Give me your phone.”

Jipyeong did as he was told to with their fingers brushing against each other when he handed her his personal gadget.

She typed in her number and he took that time to just subtly steal glances from her, taking in the rather gorgeous view he had in front of him.

In the brief silence between them, Jipyeong spoke up without thinking again.

”Do you want to have dinner with me?”

She looked up at him with another baffled look, “What’s with you?”

”What?” He replied, acting like what he just said wasn’t a big deal to begin with.

”Are you hitting on me?” She straightforwardly asked, her one hand on her hip while the other was holding onto his phone.

”No.” He was quick to deny it, “You just agreed to be friends, right? Can’t friends have dinner together?”

 _Bullshit_.

”Sorry, I'll pass.” She gave him back his Samsung and indirectly rejected his offer, not impressed enough with his moves.

He gave her a doubtful and provoking smile and asked again, ”Are you sure? It’ll be my treat. Take it as a congratulatory gift of some sort.”

She scoffed, amused at his persistence... but wasn’t convinced. 

“I’m fine.”

”What if I admit that I _am_ trying to hit on you?”

“Good for you then.” She laughed unapologetically, “Look, _friend_. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do.”

”And what exactly do you think I’m trying to do?” He smiled, intrigued.

She pat his head, “I don’t take bribes. Treating me to dinner won’t get me to choose you as my mentor.”

”It will be off the record. I won’t expect anything in return.”

Injae paused to think.

Did she have any apprehensions at hanging out with him? Not that she knew of. They were already past the awkwardness given their history... so why was she playing hard to get in the first place?

So came the next question.

Did she have any plans for tonight that she could use as an excuse? Yes, she wanted to get drunk on the expensive bottle of single-malt whiskey in her pantry to appease her frustrations at the feeling of her step-father wanting to throw a wrench into her plans... but she wasn’t going to tell Jipyeong that.

However, an idea popped into her mind as fast as it erased all her previous ones.

Here she was again, originally planning to mope around and be alone for the night... only to have the same handsome distraction of a man trump those plans.

Only this time, minus the need for intimacy of course. She just needed company.

” _Samgyupsal_.” She bargained, “ _Samgyupsal_ or nothing.”

A goofy and bright expression found its way on Jipyeong’s face, “You got it. There’s this new place uptown that I’ve been wanting to try.”

”Are you talking about the fancy and overly expensive one near the apartment?”

He smirked and quietly chuckled, “You talk as if we can’t easily buy out the whole restaurant if we wanted to.”

_**NEXT CHAPTER SNEAK PEEK:** _

The next morning, Injae woke up to the sound of an unfamiliar alarm. She opened her eyes to wake up in an unfamiliar room and in an unfamiliar bed... She racked her head for memories of how she ended up there but only vague bits and pieces came back in flashes in her mind.

She turned her head to the side and found no one beside her on the king size bed, but she did hear the sound of faint snoring.

That made her sit up and search for the origin of the peculiar sound, still groggy and lightheaded. She sluggishly tossed around in the white sheets and once she looked over the end-side of the bed... there she found him.

Han Jipyeong was laying down on the carpeted floor in the same clothes he wore from the night before—but notably more disheveled than she last remembered. He looked exhausted with his mouth slightly open, soft snores escaping it.

She widened her eyes, feeling the color drain from her face.

_”What the fuck?”_


End file.
